You had your chance
by XLUFERX
Summary: Having to go through the edgy teenager phase once was enough, but having to go through it again as the physical manifestation of edginess might be a little too much to handle. At least will people admire me and do not cringe like before. (VERY AU!) (SI-Sasuke!)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Kishimoto is the owner of Naruto.**

* * *

How to react the moment you open your eyes and find yourself standing in a room, a very simple wooden room with a single messy white bed. Usually would be confusing the first emotion but after the initial look, my head registered more gruesome details that omitted before.

Like a bleeding body next to the bed and a large scaly maimed body spread all over the floor, the warm blood flowing like a river touching my toes.

It was no surprise that my legs gave out.

But that made matters even worse.

My body and clothes got drenched with all that river of death, my hands could tell the texture of the blood as it lost temperature and going through the process of solidification on my skin.

I brought up both hands and stared at the pure red dripping on my legs.

I didn't have any voice left in me, I could only look in a mixture of disbelief and shock. Hearing my heartbeat pounding my chest like a drum, and forming a tight knot around my throat preventing me to refresh my lungs which demanded air.

But my torture didn't end and when pain invaded my head the knot was loosened allowing me to scream everything that I had been bottling up inside me for a while. Even with the absurd amount of agony I could understand something, I could somehow see through my agony how my mind was being forced images after images reason why the pain was so barely passable.

But my body, myself, had a limit.

And my vision finally went dark, yet even in the darkness that engulfed me, I felt warm, a warm feeling that gave comfort as if I was inside a bed about to sleep.

And it was nice.

However, that was a very short-lived moment.

Or perhaps it wasn't, waking up from unconsciousness in the afflicted perspective felt like a blink.

The light in my eyes returned but not immediately, first everything was blurry and there was resistance from them fully open, moments later they adapted and I found myself staring at the monotone grey ceiling barely illuminated by a lamp for a long while.

The surface where I was laying felt different from before, it was no longer warm but sticky and every time I tried to move I felt like I was glued to it and the worst part was not even a couple of minutes before being attacked again the same headache that caused me to lose consciousness.

My hands wanted me to rip apart my head and skull to somehow stop the agony that was happening inside.

Before I endured, but now I was openly crying my hands drenched with my tears of impotence because there was so much a person could endure before succumbing to despair.

If living was going to be eternal suffering then why live in the first place?

Despite being perfectly aware that suicidal thoughts aren't healthy I couldn't care less, that pain was just that horrible until it was gone.

I didn't understand at first how it was gone but with the pain no longer making me go suicidal my mind could get some clarity to understand, to grasp my reality around me again.

And noticed a man above me with long silver hair was looking down at me through his round glasses, his hand was glowing; that hand was touching my forehead. Somehow I could understand, with all my thoughts in disarray I could understand that it was thanks to him that I was no longer in pain.

"Kabuto…" I muttered, I did recognize him and knew about him in so many aspects but that didn't matter because the true question to ask, what was I doing next to him?

How could he even exist?

"Who am I talking to?" He asked.

However, I did not answer him instead I grabbed his wrist stopping him from what was he doing and almost immediately the pain returned but with a lot less intensity, it was bearable and I could compare it with a hangover at most.

"Who are you?" He insisted.

I was getting the picture, understanding what was happening to me and I knew what I needed to say next to that man.

"I'm myself and nobody else."

"Is...is he dead?" His voice failed him as he looked at me with wide eyes filled with despair.

I slowly pulled myself up from the floor and tried to shake the dust from my clothes but dried blood was outright impossible, despite the shitty situation I managed to form a smile when our eyes connected.

"Isn't that obvious?" My reply sent Kabuto on his knees in an instant, his eyes became empty and his body lost his soul with all the support that could drive him forward in life.

I examined him while I circled him, he was indeed Kabuto Yakushi.

My mind was assaulted again by the headache accompanied by distorted images but there was one thing that sticks from the rest.

I couldn't tell but my hands went to my waist and grabbed a handle and pulled, my hands unconsciously acted according to that particular idea, revealing a blade in all of its glory.

A quite beautiful crafted katana.

I looked at my weapon and then to the pathetic form of Kabuto one more time before my muscles moved and delivered a swift slash towards his neck.

He didn't move or even react.

One swift and clean cut that send his head flying with a trail of blood following, his body collapsing on the floor as blood flowed like a river repainting the area of red once again.

I executed him.

But I wasn't feeling different, much to my utter confusion soon turned into fear because I couldn't understand myself.

I sat there on the spot alone.

Drowned in my thoughts who knows how long I spent inside that room with the stench of the dead becoming stronger by the minute after the addition of a new fresh body.

But at that time I could finally organize everything to some degree for my better understanding, but I needed confirmation anything would do to satisfy my doubts. But after another look at my surroundings, I didn't find anything that could be used as a mirror.

Until I remember my katana on my waist, without thinking it twice I unsheathed it again and cleaned it with my robes and tried to see my reflection but it was too dark. There were two lamps, one next to the humanoid body of Orochimaru and the other was above me.

I stood up and walked towards the bed but I stopped right next to it when I noticed that the corpse was giving me creeps. I had to drag the body next to Kabuto's before I returned to the bed and take a seat, the illumination was different.

And when I brought up the katana again I could see the reflection of my body without issue, so without wasting more time I shifted the position of my blade so I could finally see my face.

In front of me, a pair of onyx eyes stared back to me, a black spiky with bangs that hang on both sides of my fair-skinned face that roughly frame my cheeks.

I could only recall those exacts physical characteristics from one particular character.

But how in the world did I end up as Sasuke Uchiha?

More questions that require an immediate answer but with all those memories finally settling down, the whole scenario started to make a lot of sense.

Orochimaru has been physically killed and spiritually defeated by Sasuke, me.

The next thing to do was to look for my future Team who I would use to track down Itachi and then kill him.

While it sounded easy enough the execution would be complicated to say at least, starting with those 3 who might notice something amiss.

And Itachi would notice it right away.

In other words, I would be in deep shit.

I needed to adapt fast and recover before trying anything, the killer headache was a prominent problem but not understanding my body new functions such as chakra was a more serious issue.

I didn't know any place where I could properly recover, Orochimaru hideouts weren't an option since he was dead and sooner or later others would come to raid and ransack the locations.

Towns would draw unnecessary attention.

And ninja villages would be problematic to deal with.

However, Konoha wanted me back.

Such a simple fact gave me enough foundation to work on.

Besides, Naruto was stupidly obsessed with me about being his best friend so he would do everything in his power to help me re-integrate the village as smooth as possible, along with Sakura.

Once there I could solve a couple of my problems and get some proper rest, and hopefully, I could get Tsunade to heal my headache.

It was a rather good plan and the execution was simple as well but it all depended on a chance, a possibility of how they would react about my sudden arrival even with Naruto's help it all would depend on Tsunade herself.

But honestly speaking?

I had no other idea of what to do.

I was still confused about waking up and hijacked Sasuke's body, if it wasn't such a violent awakening and suffering then I probably would have been excited about the whole thing.

I laid down on the messy bed and stretched my arms soon realizing how tired I actually felt after the whole ordeal, even if there were literally corpses next to me my mind didn't seem to care or be bothered about those grim facts, I only wanted a quick rest before going forward about what I wanted to do next.

But I was sure of one thing, I was not going to waste such a chance.

Who knew what was laying ahead of me?

I was intrigued to say at least.

* * *

**AN: I shouldn't be doing this honestly speaking, It is not good to create a new story when you already have one ongoing but what can I say?**

** Well, I can say that the next update for the other story is coming soon and that this one is more like a side project to have fun with common tropes that I won't be implementing in my other story or at least in vast amounts that this one.**

** This is kinda like a test.**

**This won't be so focused on schemes and all the complicated stuff, it will be more easy-going and I will be having a bit of fun with messing with an OP MC from the start.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: NARUTO TO THE KISHI GOD, FANFICS TO THE FAN GODS!**_

* * *

After my nap, I weighed my choices and the winner resulted to follow with Sasuke's plan, only about creating his little group, and retrieved Suigetsu from the laboratory tube which wasn't that far from my room. He didn't show much surprise when I freed him and was rather quick about leaving the damp and dark place but not without the corpses of Orochimaru and Kabuto when I showed him the sight he remained unfazed and told him to store them in a scroll as a favor since I freed him from his glass prison. Suigetsu chuckled and patted me on the shoulder before using the scroll that was conveniently inside the room.

Their corpses were an absolute necessity to return to Konoha unscathed or any other village if the first failed to accept me, they were going to become my bargain chip and if he was despised and valuable as I remembered then there wouldn't be much problem.

Either way, those problems were secondary at the moment, and I was trying to relax as I walked through the road. The forest was peaceful to say at least, and the wind breezes were refreshing, even more with my choice of attire with had a rather exposed chest.

"Why are we walking again? We can easily arrive at the little port town if we jump across the trees or even run." Suigetsu had to be the one who interrupted my small moment of peace with his words of complaint.

I closed my eyes.

"I need some peace of mind." That was my best excuse, having a headache along with me rather disorganized chakra theories conflicting with my reasoning didn't help much.

"You are just lazy." He frowned.

I sighed, I couldn't understand Sasuke's calm attitude despite being a very emotional little twat at the same time. It was constant infighting between screaming and talking, it was harder to keep it in check, without counting the headache that didn't seem to lessen as time progressed, Increasing my frustration.

I stopped walking and turned to look at him straight to the eye.

"Why did I think that bringing you was a good idea?"

Suigetsu gaze didn't falter and revealed all of his sharp teeth with a wide grin."Heh, that's where you are wrong Uchiha."

He didn't move but I knew what was happening.

"..." I didn't need to turn my head to see that Suigetsu positioned himself right behind me with a finger pointing my head while his other hand grabbed my left shoulder keeping me in place, not like I was planning of moving anyways.

"You are no boss of mine, I just decided to tag along nothing more nothing less." His carefree tone was gone, his voice was from one who wouldn't hesitate to kill.

"Are you done?" But I didn't seem affected, I remained calm despite perfectly knowing that wouldn't be my real reaction which was odd.

"Just kidding!" He was quick to release me and take the lead once again while his water clone immediately dispersed leaving a puddle at my feet.

But it got me out of that situation so I wasn't going to much thought into it for a while, besides my head suddenly decided to become a boxing target. It hurt a lot and barely allowed me to concentrate.

I rubbed my temples.

"Then keep walking, were are still far away from the port town."

"At this pace, it will take days!" He threw his hand upwards in exasperation.

"So?" I didn't turn and kept the pace.

"I demand compensation after this!" He yelled.

"So annoying." I only kept walking forward.

Suigetsu was just exaggerating, it only took us a day at most.

But I had to admit that sleeping on the ground and use the rough exterior of a tree as a pillow was one of the most uncomfortable nights of sleep ever, without taking into account that I didn't have anything to cover myself but my clothes and Sasuke choice of clothes wasn't exactly suitable to keep myself warm.

I could only bitterly smile with regret not taking with me the pillow and blanket from Orochimaru bed.

I still couldn't believe that he suggested me to use his and Kabuto corpses as a bed a pillow, that was true disgust what I felt when he even showed me how to do it.

Even if he was, theoretical speaking, made of water I dragged him to the nearest pond of water I could find and throw him into it to have him purify his body any trace of that filth, all the while he laughed.

With his stupidity over and with the start of a new day, we resumed our walk towards Wave and thankfully it only took us a couple of hours with the sun still up in the sky. Well, t least to the bridge that connects the island to the mainland, many were going in and out from the bridge, merchants with their carriage, mere travelers with their backpacks, peddlers offering their products and food to everyone passing through and much to my surprise there were a couple of hand-pulled rickshaws.

Quite a busy place.

"OI Sasuke, come to take a look!" I heard his voice loud enough to distinguish itself from the crowd chattering.

When I arrived I saw him waving his hand looking excited, like a kid who just found a candy store.

As far as I could understand his character, his being excited didn't mean good news.

"What mess did you cause now?" I sighed, mentally preparing myself for another headache.

He pointed at a board with big letters written on it. "Heh, The Great Naruto Bridge." Suigetsu was snickering while I only frowned.

"Hnn" The name made my head hurt a bit as images of memories passed through my eyes, remembering all those moments, especially how I, Sasuke, activated the Sharingan.

"It seems that blonde friend of yours had been quite busy lately." Suigetsu on the other hand only wanted to mess with me judging by his complex cheery expression.

I pushed him aside and left the board behind.

"Let's go and don't waste my time with such trivial things." Honestly speaking that was possibly the worst name for a bridge, that old man could have thought something better. Maybe even the snotty brat could have come up with a better name.

"Yeah yeah, I want to eat something over there."

We didn't need to walk all across the bridge because a merchant gave us a ride thanks to his daughter insistence to help us(me) and as expected she immediately sat right next to me through the duration of the ride asking me so many questions that I ignored or I replied with the emo signature response, 'Hnn'.

Suigetsu, on the other hand, took a nap through the duration of the ride, leaving me all alone with the merchant's daughter.

I had to admit one thing, trying to remain stoic was difficult, even more, when she offered so many drinks and food which smelled delicious and getting rather close.

The moment we crossed the bridge I didn't wait for the carriage to stop and kicked Suigetsu to wake him up before jumping off and landing perfectly on my feet while he fell face flat before turning into a puddle of water.

The daughter only squealed in delight as she waved her hand saying her goodbyes.

I sighed and walked to the puddle of water but before I could lean closer, Suigetsu body reformed and stood right in front of me with his cocky smile and walked past me.

I turned to see the direction where he was going and saw a board with frozen yogurt as a logo.

That merchant girl did entice my appetite so I didn't complain and followed him to the shop.

And the moment I passed through the door, unintentional I caused a commotion inside.

Every single girl turned to see me and I could swear I saw their eyes turn into heart shapes. Suigetsu patted my back and lead me to an empty table. Not even a second and many waitresses were already with us with menus at hand.

I wasn't even given the chance to read the menu before my annoying companion decided for me without my consent what I was going to order, frozen yogurt.

Only because he saw a waitress serving one to another table.

The poor guy wasn't given the chance to eat before the waitress snatched the cup from his hand and gave it to me, and seconds later another cup was given to him.

I closed my eyes I started to eat from my cup.

And all the girls who had their attention on me sighed in delight.

RIDICULOUS!

And when I opened my eyes Suigetsu already finished with his cup and was calling for seconds, and the moment he received the second he asked for another.

"Man this yogurt is the best! It's been a while since I had one! " Suigetsu exclaimed as he took another spoonful of yogurt, his side of the table filled with empty cups while I only had ONE half empty between my hands.

It did taste great and it helped me a lot dealing with the headache, a frozen brain would be better honestly speaking.

He didn't look like a Mist shinobi who were supposed to be ruthless killers, just a teenager having fun.

"You're fine with goofing off here? I asked.

"Is not like we are in a hurry." He shrugged as he finished another cup and proceed with the next one.

"At least until I recover my full strength." I finished my yogurt.

"Maybe, until then….HEY BRING US ANOTHER ONE!" Suigetsu screamed at the top of his lungs.

Not even a minute and a waitress already had our yogurts served and delivered to us. What a supreme service worthy of a tip but I was perfectly aware of why we were receiving such service.

It was impossible not to notice the small crowd of girls fawning over me near the table, I couldn't turn to see to satisfy my curiosity because it would only have agitated them even more.

At least I was glad that it stayed platonic and didn't dare to go physical and relatively respected my personal space or we might have had a problem.

"So what's the plan once our little adventure group is set." He pointed his spoon at me with a knowing smile.

"I'll let you know when all three of you are together." His words felt familiar just like my reply but I wasn't going to overthink it.

"Aww, you are no fun." He proceeded to gulp the yogurt in one shot and slammed the cup on the table and grabbed another.

"What I'm planning to do is something great and will last through generations, is not for fun." I took a bite from it with delicacy, unlike him.

"Hmmm, as long as I can get the legendary swords of the hidden mist I don't care about what you will do or the legacy and all that crap." His comment gained my interest, having him obtain all of the legendary swords would develop an interesting future.

"All of them?" I inquired further.

"Exactly! The seven swordsmen of the hidden mist must be built from scratch by me, all of them lost their purpose and reason for existence. The new generation will be raised by me and I guarantee you that it will be the best that has ever existed." He had an aura of arrogance but also confidence around him, for a moment I did believe his words if it wasn't for his eccentric personality.

"If I get you one of those words will you become less annoying?" I asked him directly.

"Heh, perhaps." He gave me a knowing smile as he took another bite from his yogurt.

I let out an exasperated sigh and raised my hand, calling for one of the many waitresses that had been hungrily staring at me for a while.

All of them started to discuss between themselves and for one moment I believed that they were going to start a fight until the brunette girl came to my table, it was pathetic how flushed and embarrassed she looked.

"Hey, I'm looking for a big sword that used to be near the Great Naruto Bridge do you know something about it?" I asked.

She beamed with a shiny smile as her face turn red, she tried to use her notepad to cover her embarrassment but I felt like I should be the one hiding because I felt so much secondhand embarrassment, it was cringe.

"YES! ….emmm….I'll go ask!" She left with a red face.

Moments later she returned with a small note with an address written on it.

Once she handed me the paper she ran away covering her face that was red as a tomato, then the girls went into a fit of loud giggles.

"What a playboy, you almost make me jealous." He nudged my shoulder.

"Shut up, let's get your sword," I said.

"Lead the way." He snorted.

We went to pay to the counter but rather than the man that used to be there was a young girl with long black hair and blue eyes, she was younger than me I could easily tell by the size and how she was as red as a tomato fidgeting with her fingers.

"Emmm today we have a special discount so…" She said in a low voice.

"Oh, nice! I was worried there for a second." Suigetsu was already on the counter with my purse at hand pulling out a couple of bills while flashing a sharp toothy grin.

I grabbed his collar and pulled him away from the counter.

"Shut up, keep the change." I snatched my purse back, left the establishment without looking back.

"Kyaaaa!" The young girl covered her face trying to muffle her voice.

And so did the rest.

It is just ridiculous that all the girls are that obsessed with me!

No wonder Sasuke didn't pay any attention to them!

I was rubbing my temples once again trying to ease my tension that those girls caused or at least that was in mind until I felt a hand grab my shoulder keeping me from moving forward. I turned to see the reason for stopping but Suigetsu's face was serious.

But his silence only made my impatience grow.

"What."

"MY sword is right there." Suigetsu pointed to a bulking semi-nude bald man that stood out from all the crowd, those defined muscles and tattoos were, after all, very flashy to not notice right away.

Besides, Zabuza's sword was simply too large to hide.

"How convenient, just don't cause a commotion." I was genuinely relieved that we found it so fast without going to the address given on the paper, my memory could remember that we would have gone there to fight a bunch of thugs to recover the sword.

"I make no promises!"

Suigetsu calmly walked toward the man who didn't take notice of his presence until he was right next to him, yet before the bald man could turn to see who got close to him Suigetsu already had his throat on his hand and lifted his entire body from the ground before sending him crashing towards the ground.

Everybody from our surroundings looked at the commotion and started to gather around those two.

He did the exact opposite just to get at me.

For once I could tell the reason my head throbbing if he wasn't made out of waiter I would grab his throat and apply all of my strength until it snapped.

But I couldn't show my real emotions.

As much as I hated it, I had to endure until I could fully recover and adapt to Sasuke body.

"Hmmm, it needs a bit of maintenance..." He casually said before looking at the unconscious form of the man that he incapacitated, I noticed the glint on his eyes.

Another rush of memories came down crashing on me, one little bit of information was relevant to the situation, his fucking sword could repair itself with blood.

"Don't do it." I was quick to speak.

Suigetsu turned and give me one of the fakest smiles I've ever seen. "Hey, I wasn't planning to do that."

I raised a questioning eyebrow.

He groaned. "Well maybe not...alright give me one moment."

I looked from my spot how Suigetsu pulled out a kunai and draw blood from the man's arm before spilling it on the sword, by that time people were no longer curious and left the area. They were agitated but not in full panic mode like would have been if he mutilated the poor soul with Zabuza's sword.

"There we go, nice and sharp." Since he didn't have any kind of sheath for that sword he simply placed it on his shoulder like those typical muscle-heads pretending to be cool.

But he wasn't a muscle-head, and his body frame didn't exactly fit for that sword. Logically speaking, Suigetsu would be physically incapable to even lift that sword but in Naruto world where people could walk on water and breathe fire, everything could be possible.

So I turned in the direction of the town busy main road with a new destination in mind.

"Let's go for Karin." The perfect radar and compass were eagerly waiting for me to come, however, after the little experience with those waitresses back at the cafe I couldn't help but feel nervous about Karin's obsession with me.

"Ugh, do we need her?"

In a way, I did consider the option to replace Karin with another who could do the same job but the only ones who could do her job at least to an acceptable level, we're currently living at Konoha. Besides she was far from the port town, walking wasn't an option anymore.

But she was worth all of the extra work I would need to do.

"Do you know a better sensor?" I glared at him, it was going to a rather long journey, in other words, it was for my best of interest that the whole thing was peaceful and he wasn't nagging me every second of it

Suigetsu shrugged. "No?"

"Then. _**Shut**_. _**Up**_."

Suigetsu flinched the moment our eyes connected much to my surprise, then he took the lead leaving me slightly behind as we walked through the main road.

My confusion was cleared the moment I saw my reflection on his sword, even if it wasn't clear a pair of red orbs were staring right back me.

I blinked and they were gone, replaced by my onyx eyes like usual.

I blinked again but my eyes remained the same.

* * *

**AN: Hello again I hope you all had a great Christmas and Happy New year because I did. Anyways my laptop died to a blackout and forgot to plug it out from the outlet so it is highly possible that it fried the systems also I became an intern in a company so now I'm working and also I'm doing a subject at my University you know a summer thing. So pretty much this quite tiresome especially my job so I'm just writing a couple of hundred words from my phone whenever I have the chance.**

**Anyways don't forget to increase the MMR of this fanfic!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: It's really necessary to make one of this every chapter? Who knows...**

* * *

"So it's you, after all, Sasuke."

A red-haired girl stood right in front of us with her arms crossed.

It was difficult to believe that she was an obsessive girl with that serious attitude.

"I am here as well, though I must say the surroundings truly give a new a spooky look."

Karin adjusted her glasses. "There were a couple of issues that had to be dealt with as soon as possible, if I didn't then this place would have been thrown into anarchy but since you are here then the rumors have to be true."

I immediately recalled the scenery that we went through, a barren field filled with recently filled holes as mass graves.

A massive burial ground with fresh corpses, the stench of the rotting dead was unique but disgusting.

"For a girl like you, you show an unexpected level of cruelty." Suigetsu commented.

Karin looked at him and frowned.

"You disgust me." She spat without any hesitation.

Suigetsu was quick to get right in front of her face inches away from her, staring daggers right at her soul and baring his sharp teeth at her.

"Care to repeat that?"

However, Karin didn't flinch she kept her ground staring daggers right back at him.

"Enough both of you." I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away, Karin looked at with a raised eyebrow. "Take us inside there are a couple of things we need to discuss."

We could talk right in the hallways but I hated the smell of filthy prisoners who didn't bathe who knows how long and the stench of death was lingering in the air.

"Fine." She turned around and began walking. My eyes don't fail to notice the keys

ring hanging on her waist.

Before she could say something I had already snatched the keys from her belt and threw it to Suigetsu who was quick enough to grab them mid-air.

"Set free all the prisoners inside, let them know who is responsible."

"Heh, you do like to boss people around, don't you? Either way, you couldn't resist the glory and fame after all. " He turned around in direction toward the hall with the cells.

She looked at me then Suigetsu for a couple of times processing what was occurring before her very eyes.

"WAIT! You cannot do that!" Karin was quick to exclaim her objection and tried to stop Suigetsu, however, I grabbed her wrist to stop her from taking another step.

She immediately turned to see me with surprise.

"There is no point for this prison to exist anymore," I stated, without Orochimaru or Kabuto the facilities would collapse either way and I didn't want to manage any of that. "Let's go."

I released her wrist allowing her to lead me toward the room we were supposed to discuss.

"OI Sasuke!" I heard my name being called, I turned around find Suigetsu again at the end f the hallways.

"Speak."

Suigetsu was waving his hand while wearing a wide grin. "Don't blame me if they get rather violent with me!"

"Do whatever you want." I sighed, I wasn't going to babysit him, I could trust he would finish the task but at his leisure. If he wanted to mess and cause trouble I would let him unless we were inside a village.

His smile twisted into a wicked grin showing the sharpness of his teeth before turning around in the opposite direction.

Karin tugged my sleeve and lead me to across the hallways until we arrived at a metal door, once inside I could tell that it was a surprisingly decent but simple room compared to the prison itself. I took sitting on the large bench with my arms extended and resting my feet on a small table that was conveniently near the bench.

Karin, on the other hand, was at the door sticking out her head looking sideways before closing the door and locking it.

I knew what was going to happen, even if I was mentally preparing myself I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous if I could keep a straight face through the whole ordeal.

The moment our gazes locked she smiled at me, her eyes looked at me no longer with professionalism but one that she was daydreaming.

Her cheeks turned slightly red.

It took a couple of seconds before she looked away in embarrassment.

"You didn't have to do all of that just for me you know?" She murmured and slowly walked towards me. When she was in front her cheeks were completely red and she had a goofy smile, the one a love-struck idiot would only show, and took a seat right next to me before leaning her head on my shoulder to snuggle with me, I didn't return it but I was comparing the feeling with a cat who abruptly jumped at you and decided that your legs would be a good spot for sleep.

"So you are willing to come?" I asked, she looked up and smiled as she started to draw circles on my chest trying to entice something from me, it was honestly difficult to suppress them.

Much to my surprise, my chest was ticklish.

"Of course, you only needed to ask." When I looked at her she didn't have her glasses, revealing her crimson eyes to me, and she was leaning closer to my face.

"For you, I would do anything." She whispered seductively.

"Hmph." I turned away.

She was very forward with her advances at least I could be thankful that she wasn't the type to grope.

Karin only grumbled a couple of seconds and snuggled on my body again.

"Why did you bring that guy? I would rather not have him around, he is so infuriating it would be much better for us to travel without him." She commented on her dissatisfaction.

I rolled my eyes, Suigetsu and he did show some resemblance when it involved the other. They did not like their company.

"Just like you, he is very much needed for my team, after all, he is the only one who can potentially put a front against Kisame," I explained.

Karin abruptly stood up and put on her glasses before turning to look at me with a face filled with shock.

"Kisame Hoshikage?! So you are planning to go after Itachi?!" She exclaimed

I only raised an eyebrow.

Karin blinked a couple of times before clearing her throat. "Well it makes sense that you want to go after him, but I don't think is a good idea right now. Akatsuki had been rather restless, even if Orochimaru is dead his spy network still works and I had been getting various reports of their presence across the elemental nations."

Karin caught my attention, Akatsuki as far as I could remember was an organization that preferred to be silent and go under the radar.

"Do you know why?" I needed more details to grasp the situation better, I didn't want to come into false conclusions if possible.

"It is hard to tell the exact reason but I think the reason for their recent activities is because the Jinchuuriki of six tails had been accidentally killed by Mist shinobis."

My eyes widened at the revelation

"Accidentally?" Even if my memory was a bit hazy I could still remember how that wasn't supposed to happen, Pein was supposed to capture him.

She crossed her arms. "The reports are vague but from what I could understand, they were aiming to capture him alive but the jutsu killed him instead, I assume his body couldn't handle the pain and died of shock."

"You assume?" I frowned still trying the understand the whole picture.

Karin only crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks. "Well, I know little about jutsus capable to hold down a Jinchuuriki but whenever we want to hold down a prisoner the jutsu must inflict pain on the prisoner to keep him controlled and subdue him. At least that's how it is supposed to work."

I accepted her explanation.

"Still wouldn't make sense for them to move so erratically, and I doubt Itachi would move to another nation." I instantly regret my comment, Karin's curiosity was piqued and leaned closer.

"Why do you think so?" She asked.

I sighed, I had to be careful of what I say in the future or could get caught with my own words.

"None of your business," I replied.

"Aww, Sasuke-kun please?"

"No, and don't ask." I said

Karin frowned for a moment but her expression softened and hugged me again resting her head on my shoulder. "Okay, but can you tell me how did you beat Orochimaru? I always believed him to be immortal."

I sighed, she was as inquisitive as touchy.

"He was weak and I'm stronger." I wasn't going to tell all the details since I didn't know them myself, even if I did I would keep my mouth shut about it.

"I doubt he was an easy opponent." She commented.

"You are correct, he might have been weaker than me but he was not by any means a fool. Orochimaru left me a couple of injuries that I need to recover from." Those nasty headaches, for example, I want to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Besides, using Orochimaru as an excuse was the best I could think of to explain my precarious situation but I had the feeling it would be the most effective excuse to use.

She only smiled, but my eye was able to perceive a glint in her eyes.

"Let me help you!" Karin stood up and started to undress, only her lavender uniform, exposing her back and bras.

"What are you doing?" I asked immediately.

"My chakra is special, you only need to bite me and suck." With her concrete explanation, she removed the final piece of clothing, only using her arms to cover her shame, or better said, her lack of shame.

She only needed to show an arm, not her entire body.

Honestly speaking, as a man, it was an amazing sight to behold and delight to my eyes but I frowned when I noticed all those bite marks all over her body, those marks destroyed the image very quickly.

"Your breasts?"

I wanted to facepalm so hard.

If the girls from before felt so ridiculous with their affection towards me then Karin just took it to another level, I truly wanted to believe that it was just an unfortunate select group that behaved like that and the other girls I would meet in my travels will be completely different and not just fawn all over me.

Again, I liked the attention but there has to be a limit to everything!

"Well, consider it a way to pay me back." She said, her face completely red.

Theoretically speaking, Sasuke would reject her and force her to dress up but I was me not him, just pretend to be him with some liberties.

"Just get over it with." I knew I was going to regret it later, but I wanted to take the chance so badly.

Karin smile turned into a goofy grin as she came closer taking a seat on my lap before fully revealing herself to me.

The moment my teeth sunk in her exposed flesh she let out a scream of ecstasy as she hugged my head pulling me closer to her not letting me go.

However, ignoring the sexual situation I felt her chakra flowing inside me.

The best way to describe it was by drinking cold water in summer days, exactly what you were looking for.

Those nasty headaches that had been haunting me for days disappeared.

And all the memories flowed like a river, the more chakra I sucked from her the better I felt.

It was addicting.

But something snapped inside my head, making me abruptly stop and remove myself from her valley.

"Sasuke-kun?" She meekly asked for me.

I only looked at her, and she was no longer smiling but biting her lip seductively, she was longing for more as her eyes connected with mine she was giving me the signal to proceed further.

I heard a weak voice telling me to stop but it turned deaf to me because I didn't care.

I grabbed her chin and pulled her down, stealing her lips while my other immediately find its mark under her clothes.

I was Sasuke Uchiha, but it was going to be on my terms.

I would be damned if I wasn't going to take advantage of my natural gifts.

* * *

**AN:**

_***SIGHS***_

**So a story I came up very quick, and would have a lot of tropes that are very well known in transmigration/reincarnation stories just because I want to get LOLs and laugh myself, gets attention way faster and with MUCH less chapters while the other that I overthink and plan and revise over and over again to avoid inconsistencies. With this rhythm, if it stays the same then it would only take like a couple more before both are even...**

**Don't mind me, I will be sulking at the corner for some time.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoy because after retrieving Juugo you will finally see how AU this will be.**


	4. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto but he prefers to own Sasuke**_

* * *

Fuck my life.

And fuck me sideways.

I knew I was going to feel regret , I knew it and yet I did it.

Fucking Suigetsu, he was truly an asshole in every sense of the word.

I always believed that the infamous cockblocking was only a fantasy of animes and books yet it had literally to happen to me.

Karin locked the door so any normal person wouldn't be able to enter and interrupt us but Suigetsu wasn't a normal person by any means so the moment he saw the door was locked he didn't knock or asked he simply destroyed the door and caught us in middle of the act.

Karin was so into the act, she completely ignored her sensory abilities picking up Suigetsu closing in.

Karin screams were so loud that I felt like my eardrums had exploded, and probably the entire prison heard her very well. I, on the other hand, got up and as fast as possible I tried to put my clothes, my face hot of embarrassment.

It was impossible to hide it no matter how much I tried, I got caught in the act. And the shame was in simple terms impossible to bear.

And for the cherry on top the asshole fell on his ass laughing without any hint of stopping, he laughed and laughed and laughed, despite both of us were already fully clothed he was still laughing his ass off.

Karin was as red as her hair of embarrassment, and Suigetsu didn't make it any better. She snapped and stomp his face as hard as she could but the bastard being made of water was immune to her attacks and kept laughing.

I only brought a hand to my face to cover and hide from the embarrassment and left the room, I needed air to cool myself down and rethink a way to save face.

I reached the outside of the prison greeted by the sun and there I took a seat on the ground, completely ignoring the stench.

In that lapse of time, I was able to think with a clear mind and realize that Karin chakra almost fixed my problems, despite I no longer had headaches my head feel rather heavy as if I drank a little too much the day before. But my process of thoughts became much better than it was a couple of days ago, a much better condition to accept the sudden influx of memories which I had to process.

I couldn't tell if it was a surprise or not but Sasuke memories were practically the same which I could remember, from the Uchiha Massacre to the very moment Orochimaru tried to steal his...my body.

Recalling other memories particularly centered around Team 7; Naruto the same obnoxious brat, Sakura the same childish girl and Kakashi the same lazy one-eyed teacher.

However, it did catch my attention a couple of inconsistencies with the timeline, Gaara was stopped before he could unleash his Bijuu for example. Jiraiya was very much present in Naruto's life and that Itachi and Kisame didn't exactly attack Konoha; they remained outside the walls and faced Jiraiya in combat first before running away. So Sasuke wasn't put under the horrible genjutsu again instead he was beaten down by Kakashi over and over again for even thinking about going for Itachi.

There were a couple more inconsistencies but since I could analyze in detail each event at a later date, I opted to meditate so I could understand and assimilate all my new knowledge in chakra.

And to my surprise and excitement it was extremely easy to understand and assimilate most of it, like remembering how to ride a bicycle after a while. I didn't know how it was possible but I didn't care, it was like the heavens sent me a gift and I was going to fully accept it with a smile and open arms.

But my excitement died down when Karin came to me and surprised me with a hug from behind, and grumbled incoherent words which I couldn't understand.

Moments later Suigetsu appeared with a shit-eating grin and patted my shoulder a couple of times before walking away leaving us behind.

And so we left with Karin guidance to reach the next facility where Juugo was being held captive, but unlike before we traveled as shinobis.

And the experience of jumping branches at high speed was phenomenal. No wonder Suigetsu was so bored walking for days, nobody would walk long distances if they had the opportunity to jump and move like us.

When we reached the mountain Karin warned us that she felt many chakra signals scattered around and moving.

We kept walking until we could see the facility and many humanoid deformed beasts on its surroundings, roaring and fighting among themselves.

"These people don't seem to be as friendly as the others." Suigetsu commented as we watched how a group of those madmen tied an unfortunate man on a pole and used it as a piñata.

Karin averted her gaze.

"Of course they wouldn't, this place had research purposes and with the news that you spread nothing is holding them down. Every single one of them had deep grudges against the guards of this place; it would be a miracle if we can find one of them alive." Karin immediately explained.

I looked again at the scene, and the poor bastard wasn't around but another poor bastard was tied on the pole and received the same treatment as the last one.

"What a bunch of mindless beasts," I said with enough reason, rather than escaping they preferred to remain and start a macabre celebration.

"My favorite type." Suigetsu casually spoke with his sadistic grin.

I sighed, I tried to remember if he had a trait about always looking for a fight. However, when I looked at the scene, a couple of those deformities were looking at us.

I felt a hand on my shoulder pulling me to the side.

"They've noticed us," Karin whispered to my ear.

I shook her off and rolled my eyes, it was obvious that they noticed us we weren't exactly hiding from them, to begin with.

"How annoying, but it had been some time since I practiced my moves, this will be a good warm-up," I commented nonchalantly, however, under my face of indifference I was excited to finally be able to use Sasuke's strength as my own.

"Cocky are we?" Suigetsu turned to see me with his cocky smile.

"Aren't you?" I shot back.

His smile once again twisted into a wicked grin as he grabbed the handle of his legendary sword. "Heh, let's see who can bring down more."

Me, on the other hand, I unsheathe my katana and slowly walked towards the mass of failed experiments.

"Err...I will be cheering you on Sasuke-kun!" Karin yelled before disappearing with a gust of wind to who knows where.

I really couldn't blame her since she was no fighter, at least a fighter of our strength.

Suigetsu rushed at the crowd swinging his massive sword sending many flying as a trail of their blood followed. I maintained my pace but the other side was not patient and rushed to meet me in combat-ready to rip me apart.

The very first had a massive claw instead of an arm and as expected tried to grab me with it yet I only sidestepped and placed the sharp end of my blade on his path cutting his stomach. It didn't take seconds for him to fall to the ground screaming in agony, with the memories fused I was somewhat income as if hollow regarding life and death his screams of agony didn't faze me at all.

Of course, the only one didn't stop the rabble, it only fueled their unrestrained rage, people of all shapes and forms came from every direction yet in my eyes all of them moved very slow, and I didn't activate the Sharingan.

The gap of strength was that abysmal.

Unconsciously I smiled.

My fight wasn't memorable, it was repetitive and I could even call it boring.

It could be resumed in dodge and counter over and over again.

If they tried to cut my head I would cut theirs, if they aimed for my arm then they would no longer have an arm and so on.

I turned to see Suigetsu for a moment, and with a single glance I could tell he was having a lot of fun spinning that giant blade, better said, he was laughing while killing them in cold blood.

When my gaze returned to my fight a massive hulk of mass was already in front of me with both ridiculous sized arms were up in the air and instantly came down.

It didn't even scratch me as I jumped away from the impact which by the looks of how it destroyed the ground, it had the potential to squash any human to a pulp.

After landing on my feet I was able to get a better look at my new opponent, a mass of flesh, it was a fitting description for what used to be a human. It used both hands to move like a gorilla since his legs were comically small to carry that weight.

The thing let out a thunderous roar and rushed at me, the other monstrosities remaining behind as spectators of our fight.

It was extremely predictable even without experience I could predict his every move but unlike the others, I couldn't block any of his attacks if I wanted to remain in one piece, his sheer strength was abnormal every missed hit leaving a crater behind.

I knew I couldn't keep evading his attack forever but getting close would be risky and I had the feeling that my katana wouldn't be able to do much damage to him so a jutsu would do.

I didn't meditate enough to remember all from Sasuke's jutsu arsenal and it could be dangerous if I were to try them without actual practice but I do perfectly remember his signature move, after all, it was impossible to forget since many teenagers loved Sasuke's edginess so much that they would do the Chidori every time they could to look cool...I used to be part of that group as well.

So cringe, dammit.

Moving on I looked at the thing who was panting for air, it was my opportunity.

Without wasting any other I sheathe my katana and did all the hand seals in quick succession, soon after I could hear the chirping birds coming from my hand.

I couldn't lie, it was amazing to look at the real Chidori in my hand.

I looked at my opponent one more time before rushing at him with my Chidori ready.

It also rushed to meet me midway and raised one arm to squash me like a bug.

But it was too late, he was already within the range of my Chidori.

"CHIDORI!"

My entire hand was buried in the mass of flesh as it was butter before the lighting show began, the electrical discharge started covering the entire body in lighting as it screamed in agony.

Slowly I removed my hand from his chest and noticed the charred hole I left.

I could smell the scent of burned flesh coming from it.

The mass hulk slowly fell to the ground to berecieved by the cold embrace of death.

"Mo-monster…" One of the spectators stammered the word.

I could only smile, being the overpowered Sasuke Uchiha was truly amazing.

"Ironic." I grabbed the hilt of my katana and unsheathed once again ready to draw more blood, the remnants of the horde needed to be dealt with.

However, they run away screaming in all directions.

I sighed in mild disappointment, I kind of wanted to keep experiencing the overwhelming feeling of domination. But I wasn't going to bother to chase every single one of them.

Before I could sheath my katana a maimed body fell from the sky crashing in front of me as I heard laughter getting closer.

"And with that, I score 30! What about you?" Suigetsu came walking with his sword bathed in blood, wearing his wicked grin.

"I stopped counting after the fifth," I replied quickly, but in reality, I didn't count how many I've killed.

"That's very lazy from your part, so I win by default!" He exclaimed very excitedly.

Karin came out from her hiding spot between the rocks. "That was the last of them right?"

"Yes." We both replied in unison.

Karin held her chest and sighed in relief. "If that's the case then follow me, Juugo is contained in solitary under many locks." She quickly took the lead.

The research facility had a similar structure than the prison but with the slight difference that the research facility had its monotonous walls painted in red and a couple of mutilated bodies scattered all over the hallways.

The prisoners massacred everyone inside without a hint of mercy.

But we remained unfazed by the grim scenario, Karin only kicked a half rib cage from the way and moved forward with us following behind, she only complains was that blood is almost impossible to remove and she would need to buy new boots.

I, on the other hand, didn't notice how much blood was on my clothes but her comment did bring my attention and noticed my upper clothes remained clean but I couldn't say for the rest. Thankfully they were very darkish color so it would be noticeable.

She took us to a small office that was completely turned upside down and grabbed a set of keys that conveniently wasn't affected by the whole thing.

We followed her across the hallways until we reached a clean zone, no stain or signals of a fight ever broke out only a lonely metal door.

"If I remember correctly about his strength, then all those locks and doors are pointless." Suigetsu comment did catch my interest tho, Juugo was very strong so no cage could ever hope to hold him down.

"They aren't, because they aren't there to stop him but to isolate him so he can't hear or see anything." Karin adjusted her glasses as she explained.

"But he can still go berserk and destroy everything," I said.

Karin looked at me before grabbing the keys. "Only if he is triggered by something or somebody so is almost impossible with this many layers of protection."

"But our little visit won't trigger him?" Suigetsu innocently asked.

"Of course this would…." Karin already unlocked the door and was about to turn the handle, but she abruptly stopped when the realization hit her.

She slowly turned to face me with a sheepish smile accompanied with a faint blush. "Sasuke-kun?"

I sighed. "You should have just given me the damn keys."

"Okay." She stepped aside given the freeway to open the door and potentially trigger Juugo's murderous beast.

"Heh, pussy." Suigetsu was quick to provoke.

"Shut it! I have the sense of self-preservation unlike you who is made of water!" She yelled back.

I sighed and turned the handle.

Nothing happened so I passed through the first entry only to be met with another locked door. I was grateful that the keys were numbered so I didn't need to try each key because those two weren't the only ones.

As I kept unlocking doors I was wondering, how did they even feed Juugo?

Did Kimimaro always open each door to give him food? And after his demise who had been bringing food?

When I was one door away, I could hear the incessant murmuring behind the door.

I took a deep breath preparing myself both physically and mentally before using the key to unlock the final door.

"JACKPOT!" I could barely see the form of the man who screamed his delight.

Almost like an instinct, I felt a new appendage coming out from my back which stopped his killing blow while it also stopped the impact preventing any harm come to my way.

However one blow wasn't enough to satisfy the beast, he laughed as he delivered a barrage of punches. While it didn't harm me, it did bury me deeper inside the wall.

I wanted the whole thing to end fast, I hated drama.

Juugo was so occupied trying to destroy my face that he didn't expect me to send him flying away with a kick.

After he crashed against the wall I rushed at him who was still recovering and immediately restrained him.

It took seconds to realize how I restrained him, the appendages I felt were the gigantic hands that worked as wings as well which held him down.

Sasuke cursed seal was surprisingly tame if my memory serves me right then his seal was supposed to have corrupting thoughts of grandeur but I felt or heard nothing coming from the seal on my neck.

Perhaps the whole Orochimaru affair was responsible for the seal only being a power-up seal, but that was a thought for a later date. Subduing Juugo was my priority.

"Are you calm enough to talk?" I asked as I looked down on him who incessantly struggled but my wings surprisingly were far stronger than him.

Juugo grey skin slowly returned to its natural color leaving behind his tattooed body, those marks slowly disappearing from his skin.

Only then I released him.

And to my surprise, I felt my wings slowly retracting themselves back to the seal. It felt odd having things growing out of your body and returning as if they never existed but I wanted to experiment even more with the seal.

I knew that Orochimaru could somewhat use it to return to life but the state which was it didn't fit the description, was completely different from what I could remember.

"Hey, I asked you a question." Juugo didn't say anything while I was thinking so I had to ask again.

He looked at me with surprise on his face.

"I...I think so...I need to go back!" Juugo instantly ran away towards his cell and shut the door.

"Is everything alright?" I could hear Karin's concerned voice.

"Yes," I replied.

Only then I heard their footsteps getting closer until they finally arrived at the first layer of Juugo's cage.

"Go away!"

"Wow, I didn't expect them so feared Juugo was this…." Suigetsu tilted his head in surprise when he saw Juugo pitiful form.

"Cowardly?" Karin finished for him

She crossed her arms as she looked at the pitiful form of the so feared beast."The simplest way to describe his condition is double personalities, the real Juugo is this scared boy and the bloodthirsty beast is the one that everyone fears. Juugo is scared of his to alter ego harming innocents more than anything."

"Man what a disappointment."

"I said leave me alone! I don't want to hurt you." Juugo desperately yelled.

I opened the door and went inside his cage.

"Juugo, come with me." I extended my hand.

"You don't understand!" He didn't look at me before crawling towards a corner where he cowered in fear.

I looked back at Karin and Suigetsu, they only shrugged.

I sighed in exasperation trying to remember what needed to be said or at least an adaptation.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha and from today onwards I shall become your new cage." I introduced myself hoping that it would trigger a memory of his.

"Sasuke...Uchiha?" He muttered.

I nodded.

His eyes widened as they recovered the light of life.

"You...you are Kimimaro's legacy." He looked at me from below as if he was looking at his savior.

"That beast that you fear will no longer harm innocent as long as I'm alive." I boldly declared.

Juugo face immediately was filled with tears as he went to hug my legs and let out a cry.

"Thank you. THANK YOU SO MUCH!" He was letting out all of his pent up emotions.

That wasn't necessary, and I felt uncomfortable trying to comfort him.

But at least I finally recruited Juugo so we could leave to the nearest town and finally have a proper discussion and have some of my questions answered.

"You know how lame this look?"

Goddammit Suigetsu.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Disclaimer: PLUS ULTRA DISCLAIMER!**_

* * *

After Juugo retrieval our group traveled to the nearest town and stayed at an inn, which gave us a good discount...after I accepted to share a drink and a meal with the owner's daughter, I knew this kind of things were never going to end but what caught me by surprise was that the daughter was in her late twenties.

So I had to provide company to a cougar, or was it even legal for her to be interested in me?

It was an awkward experience, but at least I can say I can finally sympathize with those girls who provide company at those cafes or bars.

That kind of job needs strong willpower.

Karin didn't seem to care for my awkward date, better said she found it funny which Suigetsu agreed as well and laughed together.

Juugo was the only one who was indifferent about the whole thing, he looked very happy with the little bird using his orange hair as a nest.

Honestly, I believe that my situation was exactly how Sasuke had been living his life, people had been handing him stuff for free or at dirt-cheap prices.

Anyways, the inn itself was decent and after doing the favor we were given a few extra advantages and a recommendation to the town hot springs.

Karin wanted to go to the hot springs as soon as possible but I denied her request, first, we needed to have our team discussion, the rest agreed with me leaving her unhappy.

I called for room service and ordered a plate of appetizers for our room, I didn't know the name I just asked for their recommendation, it was free anyway.

The maid arrived with our food and left it on the small table, it was a plate of twelve Gyozas and it had a really good smell.

I was the first to take one and I couldn't deny how delicious it was, but I had to maintain my cool.

The rest proceed to take their own, only Karin was the one who exaggerated the experiences, but at least she wasn't unhappy for the denial of hot springs.

"Since the entire team is finally reunited, do you mind telling us what is the purpose?" Suigetsu was the first to speak with his mouth full.

Unlike him, I swallowed and looked at everyone expecting gazes."The primary purpose is to track and neutralize Itachi Uchiha." I only needed to speak with him so I had to use my words carefully, neutralize doesn't mean killing him. Though I was still worried about his reaction the moment he realizes I wasn't his foolish little brother anymore, it was something I was stressing over.

But my group didn't look surprised in the slightest.

"But there are more things that come up which need our attention first," I added, immediately catching their full attention.

"Something more important than getting revenge against your brother?" Suigetsu asked, as if he was trying to provoke a reaction out of me.

I glared at him.

"They are not more important than Itachi but he can and will wait for me because that's the kind of bastard he is." It wasn't like he had any other option, how far the illness has gotten him? And with him constantly moving, I couldn't predict how much further his body had deteriorated.

"So what are we going to do?" Karin grabbed another of the Gyozas and eat it in a single bite.

"We will go after the Jinchuuriki of the seven tails." I answered as a matter of fact.

Karin instantly choked on her food and started to cough uncontrollably, I was ready to assist her but Suigetsu was already at it.

By hitting her back with unrestrained strength forcing her to spit the half-chewed food to the floor before looking at me with her mouth hanging open.

"Excuse me?!" She exclaimed between breaths, completely ignoring the shark boy's past actions.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She slammed both hands on the small table, her strength throwing off balance the plate and the appetizers.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG?!" Karin stood up and pointed at me looking at me with disbelief. "Do you even understand what are the consequences of trying to capture or kill a Jinchuuriki?!"

I raised an eyebrow wondering how she reached that far fetched conclusion, then I remembered my exact words.

Karin took it as a sign of confusion and shouted her explanation, not caring that our walls were shared with another room, good thing that it was day time or we might have got noise complaints. "Not only we will be labeled as extremely wanted missing nins from that village but Akatsuki will rip us apart!"

I sighed in exasperation and rubbed my temples in a way to calm my nerves. "When did I say that we will capture or kill the Jinchuuriki?" I clarified my words before glaring at her. "And keep your voice down, we don't want the entire building to know about our personal lives."

She cowered when our gazes connected."You...did not?"

I facepalmed, she was so emotional. "Don't jump into conclusions so quickly, I need to establish more connections besides I want to make Itachi's little group work harder to obtain their goals." They looked confused so I had to explain even more. "Orochimaru had been keeping close tabs to their operations personally, after all, he possessed one of their rings. They plan to capture the Jinchuuriki of the seven tails on the next Chunin exams that will be held at Suna, we will stop them."

I simply couldn't allow more Akatsuki successes in their master plan, their failure and destruction were in everyone's best interest and I personally hated Obito.

"Not even a month and we will be fighting S rank shinobi." Suigetsu commented sounding quite happy about it, it wasn't unexpected for a warmonger like him who is addicted to the adrenaline of the fight.

"Is that bad?" Juugo turned to Karin and asked innocently.

"OF COURSE...yes Juugo, S rank shinobi are really strong." She calmed herself after realizing who she was speaking to, then she turned to me. "At least you know who will be after her right Sasuke-kun?"

I searched in my memories for a moment.

"Hidan and Kakuzu," I answered nonchalantly.

"Hidan and Kakuzu." She deadpanned.

"Yes."

"The zombie brothers." She continued.

"Yes."

"The immortal duo." Her blank expression was starting to get annoying.

I sighed again. "What are you getting at?"

Karin blinked twice and smiled.

"Oh, nothing just thinking about what I will write in my will since WE ARE GOING TO DIE!" Her calm smile twisted into anger in a fraction of a second.

With a single glance, I could tell Juugo was starting to lose his cool thanks to her antics.

Suigetsu, on the other hand, looked that he had enough of her ramblings and kicked her legs, effectively throwing her off balance and falling to the floor.

I expected her to say something or try to escalate the situation but she didn't say anything, only glared at Suigetsu who was wearing a cocky smile.

I rolled my eyes, I had the feeling that our group dynamics would be like that in the future. "They aren't that special, the only trouble is Kakuzu's fighting experience and his five hearts," I explained Hidan's only advantage was the surprise of his immortality catching his enemies off guard and then agonizingly killing them off with his sadistic ritual.

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

"Hidan might be immortal but he is useless the moment we cut off his head, he is heavily reliant in his immortality and sadism to fight his opponents."

Suigetsu snorted."His fighting ability must suck then, I can hold my ground with my Kenjutsu despite they cannot harm me with physical attacks."

I didn't like his overconfidence, especially when it was directed towards members of Akatsuki.

"He shouldn't be underestimated anyways." I explicitly warned I had no idea if Hidan had a trump card he was never able to reveal.

"What about Kakuzu?" Karin asked.

"Kakuzu possesses five hearts, each one with a different elemental affinity. He is the real threat since he is a master in both taijutsu and ninjutsu, the only way to kill him is to destroy every single one of his hearts or posses a jutsu strong enough that can pulverize him in a second…" Naruto Rasen shuriken came to mind but then a realization hit me as if I was illuminated by the deity knowledge. "Which I do."

"You do?!" She exclaimed in surprise.

I nodded.

"The Kirin will completely pulverize him to the bone but it requires a lot of preparation and favorable weather to perform it." That extremely powerful and broken jutsu was my trump card to defeat anybody who didn't possess a perfect defense, in other words, I was sure I could even deal a lethal blow to Pein but I needed more practice and meditation to completely assimilate everything, I almost assimilated everything but that little portion left couldn't be overlooked.

"That sounds complicated and I don't even know the details." Suigetsu added to the conversation.

I looked at him to the eye giving him a knowingly smile.

"That's why we will go for a specific legendary sword of the mist." I said, immediately catching his full attention.

He couldn't help but smile when he understood our next move. "Ah, I see THAT pair. I didn't expect we would get another one so quick, you are becoming a little more likable."

"What are you talking about?" Karin asked confused since she was clueless about the topic, the legendary sword of the hidden mist wasn't exactly a hot topic after all.

Suigetsu started to do some stretching while laying on the floor as if he was a cat. "One of the legendary sword of the hidden mist; the Kiba blades which can control the weather to its will and as far as I can remember Raiga was the last wielder who had a very humiliating death, do you think that pair is still there?"

"Don't they possess some sentience and decide if the new wielder is worthy?" I didn't know but some sword does possess some level of sentience which allows them to be picky with their future owners.

Suigetsu only grinned. "Yep, they are still there."

He stood up and dusted his clothes before walking towards the door.

"Wait wait, where are you going?!" Karin exclaimed as she tried to grab Suigetsu hand.

"To recover my swords, duh" He replied.

"But do we even have a specific destination or funds?!" Karin's question brought us to a halt.

She was correct.

I didn't know where exactly the Kiba blades had been left except near a mining town and my personals funds wouldn't last us more than a week even with the discounts, I needed information and money which I posses but I needed to turn it into real cash first.

Karin somehow became the voice of reason.

I pulled out one of the storage scrolls I had in my robes and tossed it to Karin who was quick to catch it and analyze.

"How much do you think Kabuto corpse is worth?" I asked.

Karin became shocked at telling her the contents of the scroll but was quick to regain her composure and adjusted her glasses.

"The prices always change so I cannot give you an estimate, let me bring the Bingo books."

It took her like half an hour to return with a bag filled with the famous Bingo books of every village.

She grabbed the red one and started to check through the pages.

"Well he is an A-rank missing nin but it seems Tsunade hated him so much that she put quite the price for his head." Karin made me wonder why would Tsunade hate Kabuto so much, he didn't exactly do much as far as I could remember unless she took it very personal covering her with blood unless he did something to Shizune but he was the type to boast his cruel achievements so it was very unlikely he harmed Shizune in any way.

I would have known.

"So?"

"He is worth 10 million ryo."

"Nice." Suigetsu grinned.

I was also surprised by his price tag, it was a lot of money that I can cash out for such a simple thing, if the world wasn't in imminent danger then we could live with that money alone for a long time without caring about the world affairs.

"In Konoha." She finally added.

"Fuuuuuck." He groaned while I clicked my tongue.

I didn't want to go to Konoha, not unless it was necessary. Before I wanted to go since the headache was driving me insane but thanks to Karin's...direct treatment it was no longer was necessary. Unless Itachi goes mad with revenge and tries to kill me then I didn't have many reasons to return.

"And the other villages or the black market?" I was wondering about the other villages' desire for his head, after all, he was Orochimaru's right hand and he had been doing a lot of fucked up things to each village.

Karin went through the pages of the books looking for his name repeatedly until she finished checking on the black book and shook her head in disappointment. "All other villages only are willing to give 300 thousand, and the black market one million."

"Man this sucks!" Suigetsu crossed his arms.

I was utterly disappointed to hear the other villages offer it only left us Konoha as the only place to cash out the bounty but I couldn't just go there and expect my reward.

"Karin, Suigetsu you aren't known in the elemental nations right?"

They both looked at me.

"Well I used to be part of Kusakagure but I was marked as KIA years ago so I'm kind of secret...I think?" Karin reply made me remember our...first meeting back at the chunin exams. Who could have guessed that Kusa was that cold to discard and mark her as KIA without doing proper research, no wonder Orochimaru could recruit her so easily into his ranks.

He scratched his head."The new Mizukage doesn't care if I'm alive or not I think she would be happy if I report to rejoin them since they are lacking shinobis." His answer caught my attention.

"How do you know?" I asked it was odd for him to know a little too much of the outside world since he had been imprisoned inside a test tube for who knows how long.

Suigetsu shrugged. "Orochimaru used to talk alone inside his laboratory."

That sounded so much like him.

With their answers, it was clear that they were unknown people towards the elemental nations, so the higher-ups won't bother to do a background check on any of them.

"Sounds good enough, you two will go to Konoha, cash out the bounty and Karin will do the talking."

"Can't we give him to the nearest outpost? Usually, that's how bounty hunters business works with the villages." Suigetsu complained, knowing him he was kind of lazy so going to Konoha which was relatively far from the town didn't sound that appealing to him.

"The bingo book explicitly says that it must be given to her personally." Karin was quick to explain Suigetsu, then she turned to look at me with worry in her eyes.

"Besides Kabuto was Orochimaru's right hand, how can we, who are supposedly unknown shinobis, explain his death?" Karin surprised me with her insight, I was overlooking important details taking things for granted.

There was room for improvement tho.

I shrugged as if it wasn't much big of a deal."Simple, after I killed Orochimaru Kabuto had a mental breakdown, he didn't move or say anything so I easily cut off his head." The event occurred weeks ago, it was a fresh memory but it affects me. With his death only Obito could revive Madara which he wasn't going to do, I was satisfied with my earlier me who killed him without hesitation, a lot of troubles had been stopped.

"So we were lucky shinobi who happened to find him?" Karin was stunned while Suigetsu was looking at me bored.

"Yes."

She looked down and sighed in defeat.

"That sounds stupid but believable, at least to a certain degree since there had been cases. But if you have forgotten something, Konoha has famous tracking clans like the Inuzuka who will catch your scent and immediately ask questions which without a doubt will inform the Yamanaka and boom we are exposed." Karin introduced more problems that I didn't think about, while it was annoying it was necessary since I couldn't predict or know every detail no matter if I know the world's future.

"If they ask questions then say that you met me while you were moving, asked you a couple of things and left. So you investigated the place where I have come from and found the hideout, explored the place and found Kabuto."

Karin grabbed her chin for a moment and shook her head.

"Honestly this sounds complicated and there are many possibilities that things can go wrong, are you sure wouldn't be better just to sell him to the black market? While is ten times less, one million ryo will be enough to cover our expenses for a while." She looked at me with the hope that I would go through with my plan.

I sighed, she was right but it was probably my ego or my greed that I didn't want to give up of that amount of money so easily.

"I also need an update of Konoha, without Orochimaru we cannot rely on his spy network anymore." Even if she said that his network had been functional, with the news of Orochimaru's death spread to every corner, there was no longer a guarantee of their loyalty.

"Well that is true, there is nothing binding them anymore since the news of his death had been spread so it is only matter of time before they simply stop providing information or might even betray us."

"So we will need more funds besides our expenses to buy information and other things."

She didn't retort anymore after that, she simply nodded along with Suigetsu.

While Juugo was feeding and petting the bird that used his head like a nest.

With our first objective set, our team discussion was over.

However, we all deserve a rest after days of travel and fighting.

So I put to use the Hot springs recommendation and took my team to relax before they would embark on their respective mission.

Karin had her mood do a 180° turn and happily lead us towards the place.

Our group earning many different looks with different reactions as we walked across the streets, it was impossible to not draw attention sadly. Suigetsu oversized sword was one reason, Juugo's peaceful appearance giving an image of the Disney princess surround by little critters, Karin with her unique hair color and last but not least, my dashing natural gifts.

It wasn't narcissism just a cold hard truth.

The place itself giving a traditional folklore appearance.

And for the first time, I didn't get a discount, since the receptionist was a bald old man who explained to us that there were public and private hot springs depending of what we chose the price varied so I went a private springs for myself and another for the rest of the group, but every single one of us needed to take a quick shower.

I wanted some privacy since I didn't feel comfortable exposing so much of my body to others, even if Sasuke's choice of attire said otherwise I was planning to get another set of clothes and with the bounty that I would receive I could be picky about it.

There were more things that I needed to think about regarding our plans, and I was focused on exterminating Akatsuki. For anyone else that would be a fools' dream but for me, Sasuke Uchiha, it was within possibilities after unlocking the Mangekyo Sharingan and obtain Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan.

I smiled in amusement as I remembered his time when Sasuke tried to act like a big shot in front of the Kages and he only received the biggest beating of his life for doing so, it could be summed up in overestimation of oneself.

Thinking so much could build up stress very quickly but thankfully the waters' temperature was right on point to relax my muscles if only the technology existed to artificially create bubbles would have been perfect.

But my daydreaming had to come to a halt when I heard the door slide open.

I was ready to explode on the bastard who dared to interrupt and invade my heaven until I noticed the distinguishable red hair.

"What are you doing Karin?" I should have expected her sneaking around to be with me, but being so relaxed and unpreoccupied with my surroundings the idea didn't cross my mind at all.

Karin didn't say anything before she threw her glasses and slowly walked towards me and when her feet reached the hot water she removed the towel that was covering her and completely submerged until it reached her neck and kept going until she was right next to me.

"You owe me." She whispered to my ear as she lovingly grabbed my chin.

Honestly, I can only hope that Suigetsu wouldn't ruin the moment.

* * *

**AN:**

**Look, Karin is a creep no matter what many try to argue but she is an obsessed creep with all the material Kishimoto and Pierrot gave us about her only in Boruto she shows a lot of improvement with the so little I saw in Youtube clips, I don't know if it is necessary to even remind you all that is AU but yeah even some characters personalities will be changed.**

**Tho I'm curious why people are so against Konoha? Is it because of the ridiculous amount of Konoha bashing stories?**

**Also, do people read the ANs? I mean I'm explicit with certain things but people still point it out as if I don't know *sighs***

**PD: Not gonna lie, I love the new nickname a YouTuber gave to Orochimaru, "El vende papas"**

**PDD: And yes I'm still sulking, happy but sulking.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Disclaimer: Yar har, fiddle de dee**_

_**Being a pirate is alright to be**_

_**Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free**_

_**You are a pirate!**_

* * *

Karin estimated a week at most for the whole bounty hunter business, leaving me and Juugo behind who unlike those two was a pleasant company. Not because he was funny or friendly, he rarely spoke to me unless he needed permission for something, he was a very calm and peaceful person. Perhaps I missed the silence, besides his activities were entertaining to watch.

I could compare him to a monk living a connected life with nature, every day he spent tending the plants of our room and was even permitted to tend the inn's garden after the owner saw how good he was at it. And he too tended his little friends who came to drop a visit, thankfully they didn't do their necessities inside or I would have been mad.

How could such a bloodthirsty beast be the equivalent of a Disney Princess?

And much to my delight, he didn't suffer any outburst of rage.

So I didn't have to act as his cage, not even once he lost control, he maintained his civilized personality making me wonder about his condition. Perhaps it was all in his head, he only needed a reassurance that the beast's new cage won't be broken.

What an interesting fellow.

As for me, I used my time for deep sessions of meditation to properly organize myself and analyze in much better details the events that didn't match my memories as well as discovering more incongruencies.

Especially why Tsunade hated Kabuto so much, he didn't cripple or killed Shizune but with his chakra scalpels at the battle of the three sannins, he killed the pet pig Ton Ton who blocked his direct attack. Shizune fell into depression after that battle and Tsunade changed roles with her now being the one who helped Shizune to recover. Kabuto was annoyed that he couldn't kill her thanks to the pig, that was his only complaint.

But aside from memories I was more focused on understanding my Sharingan, I couldn't tell how much time I spent in front of a mirror trying to activate my new eyes and Sasuke understanding was very vague much to my dismay, it was seriously just channeling chakra to the eyes and they supposedly activate but when I tried many times nothing happened.

I would have been worried that somehow I lost the ability if it wasn't for that time when I used them to intimidate Suigetsu.

It took me days to understand how strong were the ties of my emotions with my Sharingan, Sasuke's memories and pain were worthless but my own worked.

Remembering the moment of my dog death, the dread and void I felt on my chest when I saw it breath one last time and when I placed my ear on its chest hoping to hear a heart in vain created a knot on my throat but when I saw my reflection two red eyes with three tomoes were looking right back at me along with long trails of my tears, after that I didn't try to do anything for the rest of the day.

The following days I tried with anger, getting the same positive results with the unexpected addition that my vision went red. Literally speaking, as if I was wearing red sunglasses.

But when I tried with happiness it didn't work no matter how much I tried, happiness didn't trigger my Sharingan.

No wonder the Uchihas were filled with dangerous family murderers psychopaths, the high influx of negative emotion could easily overwhelm a person's sanity.

And Sasuke being the sensible edgy emo he was, the Sharingan could be used at his whim and Itachi living in constant dread and depression gave him the ability to command his eyes to his whims as well.

I wanted to keep trying with other specific emotions besides the principal three but without realizing a week had already passed, and I knew it by the most unorthodox way imaginable.

Suigetsu came inside after kicking the door open with his boastful laughter throwing a small business suitcase towards the table and crashing on his bed with his laughter going strong.

Moments later Karin passed through the entrance with her head hanging low while covering herself with a mantle, her new appearance reminded me of those extreme type of burqas. I genuinely wanted to laugh like Suigetsu but I knew that Karin wouldn't be like that for no apparent reason, however, the moment I approached she lunged at me and squeezed me in a tight hug. With a lot of effort, I was able to push her away and removed her cover, only to find a face as red as a tomato on the verge of tears.

I had her sit down and relax for a while before she was in better condition to finally explain everything that happened in the last week to be in that state.

And when she started I felt my stomach drop.

"You gotta be kidding me."

"It is not my fault! How could I've expected a mutt would dare to violate me?!" She cried out.

To sum it up Karin panicked and revealed our intimate moment because a dog has not been trained to be respectful of strangers.

"Now everyone in the village knows thanks to you." I felt my cheeks heating up, even if there was nobody except that idiot to laugh I was still feeling incredibly embarrassed for that secret to be out in the light.

And Suigetsu laughter didn't make it any better.

"Is not my fault!" She yelled back on the verge of tears.

According to her after leaving the Hokage office they had really bad luck to encounter Team 8 which Kiba's dog caught the scent and was sniffing around and went directly to her...between her legs without any regards for her privacy and told Kiba who immediately alerted everybody which resulted in both of them getting surrounded.

Forcing them to return to the Hokage office since Karin knew that they wouldn't be able to escape by force.

The new Team 7 arrived and they got overwhelmed with questions after questions since they couldn't be forcefully interrogated, after all, weren't enemies shinobis or missing nins. And under the pressure, Karin could only give a poor improvised answer, which ended up being with us having a one night stand at a bar after meeting again at a small town and Suigetsu disobeyed my order and added to the story how drunk she got and looked so pathetic that even me, Sasuke Uchiha, took pity on her.

No wonder she was so red in embarrassment, I would be like that as well if roles were reversed, I wouldn't have any face to look anybody to the eye.

I looked at Suigetsu who took a seat in front of us with his signature grin.

"What happened then." I asked.

His grin only widened. "The pinkette started to bawl her eyes out and your blonde friend, Naruto I think, was shocked to say at least I mean he was like very pushy and bothersome asking about you and when redhead confessed the color of his face drained almost instantly becoming like the pale guy. Is he gay or something?" He snickered.

I resisted the urge to facepalm, Sakura reaction was expected but Naruto? Why should he be surprised or that affected? I shudder at the thought that he is playing for the other team, having girls pursuing me could be barely tolerable but dudes as well?

The information did increase the weight on my shoulders so much that I had to sit down and ponder for a while.

At the end of the day, Karin wasn't at fault, at least not entirely since it was me who accepted her...forward advances if I rejected her then Akamaru wouldn't have noticed the scent and just annoy her as any untrained dog would do.

Actions have consequences, the only thing that could make things even worse is that Karin got…it was for the best to not tempt the universe or it might be tempted to fuck me even harder than it had already done.

"At least you got the bounty, that's what all matters to me." I said while rubbing my temples, I was considering to go to a massage parlor to relieve some stress if more issues piled up on me and my group would, without a doubt, create more situations to increase that stress.

Karin only looked at me apologetic fidgeting with her crimson hair. "Well not exactly."

"Oh for fuck sakes!" I slammed my fist on the table, I had to be grateful that somehow it didn't break.

"Yeah, your old team demanded that half the bounty went directly to you since you technically did most of the job so they will put in a bank account and the old hag accepted their demands so it isn't exactly a loss." Suigetsu explained to her.

I didn't even meet any of them and they are starting to piss me off, were they supposed to be that bothersome?

Obviously, those two did had genuinely good intentions but I couldn't same the same for Tsunade and Kakashi especially when Suigetsu mentioned the bank account, banks keep records of every transaction no matter how big or small it was.

I looked Suigetsu to the eye. "The moment I retire money from there they will know where I'm and where I might go even if I use proxies, don't be stupid." There were no questions that they would immediately report my transactions back to her and with so many brilliant minds by her side they could easily predict my next move.

I sound like a fugitive...I'm a fugitive but at least not officially since my name hasn't been written in the Bingo books in the missing-nin category.

"Thankfully five million is more than enough for our current objective." I said trying to ease the tension and present the positive side of things because I was right, I was mostly mad that I had been shortened and they stole from me.

"So what's next?" Juugo finally spoke.

I sighed, we can only proceed with the plan."We will buy one of the many informants inside the town."

Karin immediately brought up the suitcase and presented it to me but the moment my eyes landed on it I had a strong gut feeling.

"Wait…"

I snatched the suitcase from her hands and threw all the thick bundles of money to the floor ignoring all the protests from my team and search every corner and centimeter of the suitcase.

Until my eyes found a small glyph right under the handle.

My eyes widened at the realization, I didn't know what that glyph meant but I had a growing feeling of its purpose because of how possible it was."We need to leave, now."

"What? Why?" She protested.

"This was made to track the owners." I shortly answered.

"Oh….oh shit."

"So they might be on their way, should we fight them?" Suigetsu frowned, he too realized his carelessness.

I turned to Juugo. "Any information?."

He leaned closer to the bird on his hands and the little bird went to his ear to chirp.

Juugo shook his head to my relief. "No shinobis in the vicinity, just people entering and leaving the town as ever."

I threw the case at Karin who tried to grab it but failed, she had to pick it up from the floor.

"Get rid of the suitcase," I ordered, I needed to think for our next move because I didn't want to fight or get showered with questions so soon.

Karin grabbed the suitcase and as fast as she could try to leave the room but when she opened the door she abruptly stopped, looking ahead as if she was petrified.

"Is something wrong?" When I went to check why she stopped at the entrance I noticed another redhead who was slightly shorter than Karin standing in her way looking as surprised as Karin.

"Karin?"

"Tayuya?"

Have you ever thought that Anko looked sexy, that her clothes or better said the lack of clothes gave her a strong sex appeal?

Well, Tayuya surpassed her.

Her upper body the only cover was a black training bra along with a fishnet top which perfectly showed her slender figure and her abs. Her black sport skirt nicely hugged her hips catching the eye along with a leather belt that had a flute three scrolls tied to it. And finally, her long straight red hair gave her an exotic look, except her little hat didn't fit with her entire (lack of) attire, it looked somewhat and oddly cute but it would have been better if she didn't wear one at all.

"When I heard a red-head left the village after claiming a bounty, I needed to investigate and who could have expected that it was you….and look here, the shitty teenager finally grew up." Her attention shifted to me.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead or something?" I was confused, as far as my memories went, she was part of the team that went to deliver Sasuke to Orochimaru and she was supposed to fight Shikamaru and then Temari who would end up bringing down a forest on her yet she was standing right at the door.

She scoffed as she crossed her arms. "Dead? Hey, shitstain. I might have been part of the Orochimaru elite team but I'm not by any means an idiot."

"Yeah, you are only a foul-mouthed bitch." Suigetsu comment didn't go unnoticed by her.

She turned with a malicious smile as she looked at our Sharkboy. "And even the cumbucket is here as well."

"Good to see you again, fucking whore." He replied.

Tayuya pushed Karin aside and stomped her way to be face to face with Suigetsu who maintained his shit-eating grin while he looked down on her. "You have no idea how much I regret not taking a piss on your container when I had the chance."

"I would have loved to see you try." He taunted forcing me to interfere or they might have started a fight.

I grabbed his collar and pulled him away from her becoming the only one facing her, and she was to my surprise she was short compared to my height.

"How did you survive?" I asked she wasn't supposed to be alive, to begin with, it was out of necessity to know how she managed to escape or better said, how she became a Konoha shinobi if bracelet with Konoha symbol was any indication.

"I simply changed teams after boner guy left." She shrugged. "He was the only one who kept me from leaving so with him gone I surrendered, went to jail for a couple of months, got interrogated and finally joined as a tokebetsu jounin under the direct command of the perverted bastard of Jiraiya."

Her answer only created more questions.

"Why are you here?" I asked as my hand carefully and slowly grabbed the hilt of my katana, my eyes never leaving her in case she tried to pull a fast one on me.

She smugly smirked as her attention shifted to our redhead."I only wanted to check if the girl was Karin and well as you can see, she is indeed Karin."

She rested both hands on her waist as she let out a long whistle."So, Karin, I heard that you banged the Uchiha."

I unsheathe my katana and swung only to stop right on her neck touching her skin, there was no time for stupid games."Tell me your real intentions, now."

I allowed my anger to leak, and my vision turned red.

"Aren't you such a quick shot?" She tried to provoke but I only shifted the position of the sharpness of my katana and carefully did a cut on her jaw.

Her eyes widened at the realization that there was no joke, I could see her forehead sweating cold before looking at me a couple of seconds and sighing in defeat, her chakra was calm as a pond.

"Fine, Jiraiya sent me to investigate the lucky bounty hunters and if they had any connection to you. So I kind of need to report that indeed they have a connection since you are pretty much a team as far as I can guess." Tayuya told us without any issues even with my Sharingan I couldn't detect any lies coming from her or maybe I didn't know all the specific details and shifts to detect lies.

"And let me guess, Team 7 will rush to chase me." I removed the sharpness of my katana from her neck and returned it to its sheath, for the moment it wasn't necessary.

She rubbed her neck as she checked the small cut for blood."Well about that, Shithead will rush to meet you as soon as possible while the rest would try to catch up."

Naruto would do that, without an ounce of doubt.

"Can you just tell them that you didn't see me?" I hopelessly asked.

"Can you suck a dick?" She quickly answered with an impossible but provoking question making me frown in annoyance. "I kind of like my new life at Konoha so I won't fuck it up."

I don't know what drove me but I already had Tayuya collar in my hands, pulling her closer as my Sharingan raged for more violence, even if she tried to maintain her strong facade her eyes frantically looking her surroundings betrayed her.

I didn't want more trouble, I would do whatever necessary to achieve that state.

But a hand grabbed mine catching my attention, turning to the owner I saw Karin's concern and dilemma. "Please don't kill her."

"Karin?" Her plead was a surprise to me.

"I know she is a bitch…"

"That I am." Tayuya interrupted to confirm her words, only earning a hard glare from Karin's part.

She turned to me. "But...but she is my only friend."

I closed my eyes and let out a long tired sigh, I acted according to my emotions and the more I think harming Tayuya wouldn't have helped me at all, it would only have created more trouble for me in the long run.

I turned to Tayuya without my Sharingan activated.

"At least tell them that I will return to the village but I must do a couple of things first." I released her collar giving her her space to accommodate and try to fix the damage to her clothes, to my surprise her fishnet top didn't rip or snapped, perhaps it was made with a resilient material.

"That's all?" She looked at me with confusion plastered all over her face.

"Yes."

The confusion that soon turned in disinterest as she shrugged, "Sure, I doubt it will stop them from coming but sure, I can pass on your message."

"Good, now get the fuck out." I pointed at the exit and waited.

She didn't say anything more and turned around and left not before she spits at Suigetsu's direction whose smile twisted into a grin baring his sharp teeth ready to use them.

Without seconds thoughts I kicked her ass forcefully sending her outside of our room before I shut the door on her, I didn't want a fight over petty reasons.

Especially not in my room.

"Are you really going to return?" Karin asked me.

Whenever the idea is brought up I cannot stop thinking about an ideal fantasy but at the same time, memories of what lurks in shadows break the fantasy, directly threatening me. Threats I cannot face unless I evolve my Sharingan to the next level but the question remains.

How?

I sighed. "If I finish everything in my list then perhaps I might consider it but for now we need to leave."

"I don't know if that is possible." A voice behind us tauntingly declared.

"Great…we had been fooled." It took me seconds to realize that Tayuya was only there to buy time, there was no other explanation of why she talked so much and why she so easily revealed her mission to us.

I turned to see our uninvited guest, but it only confirmed my fears when I saw the long spiky white hair.

"I must admit your idea was good but as the great spymaster of Konoha, it was quite easy to figure it out your involvement."

I narrow my eyes."Jiraiya."

"The Gallant Jiraiya in the flesh." He stroked one of his infamous poses.

No sooner after he finished his dramatic introduction his figure disappeared from my sight before suddenly appeared right in front of me as he rammed his hand on my stomach with so much strength I felt my internal organs move from its respective places, I was sent crashing against the wall of my room, breaking it in the process.

"Sasuke-kun!" I heard Karin scream my name but my head was ringing and disoriented by the impact, I couldn't properly focus.

Thankfully Juugo gave me a hand and allowed me to use his body to support mine, Suigetsu took the initiative to place himself between Jiraiya and myself with his weapon ready while Karin already had her arm right in front of my mouth.

Without thinking it twice I bit, feeling much better by the second and the pain dissipating as if I was never injured in the first place while my head recovered allowing me to focus again.

"And that's for stabbing Naruto with a Chidori."

He declared as he cracked his knuckles.

"But there is more to come."

Shit.

* * *

**AN: If you are wondering, yes my dog away last year she accompanied me for 14 years of my life, at least I'm glad she passed away next to my mother and not alone, and you know something? I somehow knew when she was going to die, I was at the computer working but suddenly my whole body felt wrong and my neck was cold, my heart ached a little and I simply couldn't keep working. I left and went back towards my dog and I saw her breathing heavily, I lifted hug her and placed next to my mother who was trying to relax and left towards my bed watching the roof. Half an hour later my mother cries out that she died so I checked and indeed I didn't hear her heartbeat but only horrible silence I heard. I didn't cry but it was almost impossible for me to utter a word, I mean I knew it was going to happen but damn when it happens you really don't know what to do or how to react and my words failed me when I tried to speak with the vet asking for a crematorium, I had to grab a bottle of wine and chug it down to properly speak so now I can understand, at least, a little those people who drink to forget or to ease their pain, because it fucking works.**

**Now we have three dogs who give a lot of life to the house, dunno it was like destiny that a carbon copy of my dog appeared in our life, it was a stray rescued in a dog shelter. The second was because she was accustomed to living and play with other dogs so we bought her a little sister; not so little anymore easily is double the size lol, and the last sister is the daughter of my aunt old dog, surprisingly even with 10 years he was able to have puppies, I don't know but he also doesn't have much time left but at least he had puppies who are exactly like him so his legacy will forever be with us, well impossible to forget any of them since they are fucking demons just like the father used to be.**

**The cycle of life is both beautiful and horrible.**

**PD: Tayuya outfit is from The sealed Kunai by Kenichi. It is simply a really good outfit perfectly fit for her.**

**Rant start, I needed to get this off my chest as well. Don't read if you don't want to ruin the mood.**

**You have no idea how fed up I'm getting with people constantly pointing out the obvious. MY grammar is bad? I FUCKING KNOW SO STOP PESTERING ME! I had been dealing with it like what? 5 or 6 years? I dare you to read a WATTPAD Naruto fanfic then and tell me THAT isn't a grammar nightmare.**

**I'm very welcoming to criticism and if you see grammatical mistakes good! AT LEAST FUCKING TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG IF YOU ARE GOING TO COMPLAIN!**

**In the years I've been writing people who actually pointed and even corrected my grammatical mistakes were like 2 or 3 in TOTAL.**

**You do not help me at all if you only point the obvious, you only frustrate me because I CANNOT SEE WHAT YOU CAN SEE!**

**If you haven't noticed I'm a fucking Latino from South America living in my beautiful birth city, I learned my English from other Latinos English teachers, certified by the way, and my school had us learning from TWO kinds of English for 11 years, American along with British and I grew up hearing Canadian English. so what some of you don't consider theoretically correct it is correct for the other side. Example? Vacations/Holidays, color/colour. But well I cannot deny that most of the readers are from America.**

**So I use a program that helps me a LOT with many grammatical errors, each chapter always has around 200, but even then is not enough.**

**To sum up, If you are going to point my grammar at least, PLEASE, tell me exactly what is wrong and I will happily fix it as soon as I can if not then I will have to recur what I swore never to do, delete comments, even if they really but are rude I never deleted them. Just like authors delete those 'First' comments I will give the same treatment to unhelpful complaints of my grammar because I'm THAT fed up.**

**Rant over.**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto

* * *

I said nothing but both Juugo and Suigetsu rushed at Jiraiya only after I could stand by myself.

Juugo partially changed his body, transforming his arm to a hulking mass of muscles, hoping to crush him from above while Suigetsu aimed to cut his legs.

However, Jiraiya jumped on his place, landing on the sword while his white spiky hair grabbed Juugo's arm and sent him crashing against the wall. Suigetsu tried to recover but an upper kick met his face, his head exploded like a bubble of water but it didn't end, Jiraiya already had seals tags on both hands, one respectively for my downed teammates.

Suigetsu who was in the process to reform became a puddle of water when the seal touched his body, while in Juugo case the seal created unbreakable chains the moment it touched his chest forming a cocoon.

He tried to break free like he always did with chains, but no matter how much he trashed around or yelled, those chains didn't bulge an inch.

"You both are thirty years too early to stand a chance against me." He boastfully announced.

It took him seconds to defeat those two. He deserved all the titles with no doubt.

And as expected, Karin cowered behind me.

"You don't scare me." I boldly declared.

"Oh, so you are you going to receive your beating like man?" He asked as he stepped closer.

"Karin, make sure they are all right." After my order she slowly left my side and walked towards my teammates, her eyes never leaving Jiraiya worried that he might do something to her.

He only chuckled.

"Who would have thought that the shitty brat has a heart."

He was already right in front of me, looking down on me while I narrowed my eyes in defiance.

"They have nothing to do with this."

"So you are going to face me alone? I must admit you have balls kid."

Subconsciously my sharingan activated, the growing stress perhaps was the responsible but either way any sort advantage would be welcomed for the moment our fight broke out. My hand was already at the hilt of my blade ready to attack at the same time my body was ready to dodge any of his attacks.

I knew that the Sharingan could predict his moves but it served no purpose if I wasn't fast enough, however, I was trusting in my physical condition to keep up with him

But the moment he slightly moved his arm golden chains sprouted from the floor surprising us and as snakes they lunged at Jiraiya coiling around his limbs. He desperately tried to fight them off and to get away but they only strengthen their grip as more chains kept coming and forcing him onto his knees.

My sharingan easily detected the source of the chains, leading me to Karin who was looking at the scene in surprise.

Jiraiya after being subdued he looked at his surroundings until his eyes landed on Karin in surprise. "I must admit, I never expected to see these chains ever again. This particular Fuinjutsu isn't something that any Uzumaki can perform."

"It seems your so called justice played against you." I smirked, what a convenient turn of events.

"I was just careless nothing more if I knew she could perform this particular jutsu then I would have knocked her out first." His glare hardened when he turned to look at Karin who flinched but returned to check on our teammates well-being.

Despite being trapped he could instill fear to others.

What followed was a staring contest accompanied with an awkward silence but in that time I was able to think how to use my cards, I could only hope that my cards would work since I didn't have more of them.

"Catch." I threw the scroll, however it only crashed against his chest and fell to the floor, I wanted to facepalm for my mistake.

What I had just done was practically mockery of his unfortunate situation.

"What's that?" However he didn't seem to care.

"Orochimaru's corpses."

"Corpses?"

"His humanoid form worked as some sort of shell, the snake was his real body after years of experiments and augmentations." I explained, for the sake of immortality he became a monster.

He looked at the scroll his attentions shifted towards me. "What do you think to gain from this?"

"I'm asking you to listen to me."

"Listen to you? Did you listen to Naruto when he begged you to stop and come back?" He spat back.

The scene at the valley of the end replayed in my mind but those memories were more livid, my hand clear remembered the moment it pierced his stomach and Naruto's rasengan hitting me.

I closed my eyes. "Everything was a necessary sacrifice, but you need to hear my explanation first."

When I looked again, Jiraiya expression changed to neutrality. "You changed, you don't fit the description that I was given. Very well, I will listen to your explanation."

'Is not like you can do anything else' I thought.

"I always intended to kill Orochimaru from the very beginning."

"Oh really? Then why so eager abandon everything, to fight everyone and give up your body to kill Itachi?"

"Do you honestly believe that you or Orochimaru would have trusted any of my words if I didn't show any conviction or proof?"

"So what you did to Naruto was to show your determination?" His word made me recall the exact moment our eyes met at our battle.

Those memories were something, it felt different.

Guilt or anger?

I shook all those emotions away. "What else could I've done? If he only turned back then nothing would have happened, I never intended to kill him."

Did I just shift the guilt?

In retrospective, it was Naruto's fault to be in that state and his stupid obsession with promises because about friendship and not losing important people wasn't the reason of his stubbornness since he had Jiraiya taking care of him and we weren't exactly is super friendly terms.

"Alright, let's say I believe you. Why did you want to kill him so badly that you sacrificed so much? Your so called vengeance could have been done without running away."

"Because the bastard had a role in my clan demise, I don't know what he did but he reaped a lot of benefits from it."

He frowned. "Explain."

"He had a room filled with Sharingans and notes about artificial Uchihas abominations, with my suspicious confirmed I trained and waited for the perfect moment to strike and then proceeded to destroy everything related towards my clan."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Uchihas abominations? Kid that sounds like it came out straight from a horror book."

"Because it was, a head filled with Sharingans staring at you was an abomination and the biggest offense towards my clan, Itachi may have massacred my clan but what Orochimaru had been doing to my family was worse." The only thing I knew about Orochimaru experiments was about Shin Uchiha and how deformed he was, nothing more.

Jiraiya's eyes softened and let out a sigh.

"Any sane Uchiha would have done the same but how did you even get such information?" He asked, after all, nobody would know such secrets without a snitch.

A snitch which I lacked.

"One night, years ago a letter was left on my bed, it was brief but it was enough for me to understand who deserved to die by any means necessary." I lied.

"I have a feeling who might have given you the letter."

"Who?" I faked my interest.

However, Jiraiya only shook his head. "Honestly, this explains a lot of things. I won't say names but is better that you do not get involved in this mess at least not yet. But why didn't you return after killing Orochimaru?"

I crossed my arms as I looked away. "Like I said to Tayuya, there are more things I must do before my return."

"Like?"

I couldn't reveal my intentions to go after the Jinchuuriki of Seven Tails or other plans like recovering the legendary swords, it would be stupid. Only one thing I could let him know because it wouldn't be a surprise.

"Neutralize my brother." I answered with venom in my voice.

"Neutralize? You no longer want to brutally kill him?" He asked with interest about my sudden change of attitude.

I sighed, I knew that question would come up.

"After Orochimaru's death, I have gathered so much information with his notes and logs that my perspective changed, my brother wasn't the sole responsible for the massacre."

Orochimaru was really a good scapegoat for everything after all there was nothing he didn't or tried to do ,people would believe it either way.

"I never believed the story anyways, it had too many discrepancies to my liking." Jiraiya closed his eyes.

"And Orochimaru mentioned Danzo Shimura multiple times." I added, Danzo was a threat one I didn't want to face out of fear for his possession of Shisui Mangekyou, he only needed to use it once to brainwash anybody even other Uchihas.

If others could get rid of him in my stead then good.

"Danzo eh? I wouldn't be surprised, at least this gives us some ground to finally get rid of him."

"If he was responsible for my clan demise, I will kill him." I pretended my anger towards the man.

"If you do that then you will be labeled as a missing nin and the entire force of Konoha will be on you, unless Tsunade gets enough evidence to get rid of him." Jiraiya quickly added before going silent while chewing his cheek, he looked so focused on trying to understand and connect many dots.

Me on the other hand, needed to find a log or a journal that could give them enough evidence, my words weren't enough.

"Well kid, I must say you dropped quite the bomb on me. I will inform Tsunade about what you told me, she will decided what to do."

I mentally celebrated at hearing his words, the fight was avoided but the last part wasn't for my liking."I need her to stop looking for me."

Having tracking teams going after me would be a nuisance.

"I can't make that decision kid, better said I should be dragging your ass back to Konoha right now." He frowned.

"I need my freedom." I thought I have obtained what I wanted but he showed me otherwise, he was stubborn and Tsunade had the same problem as well.

"I told you I cannot decide that."

And Orochimaru corpse didn't seem to be enough.

I couldn't hide my smirk.

Why not abuse more of my little advantage then?

"I will exchange all of Orochimaru's notes about Akatsuki if you give me what I want." After I dropped another bomb he somehow with sheer strength, stood up while the chains tried to send him back to his knees.

Anybody would get away but I remained in place looking at him with the same eyes than before.

"Start talking." He demanded.

"I need a formal letter detailing my pardon and freedom to roam the elementals nations without any kind of problem and to transfer my clan fortune into a different account if you want me to divulge those secrets." I made my demands clear, I would no longer need to worry about them coming after me and I wouldn't have any obligations to them and money wouldn't be an issue any more.

"I need that information now." He leaned closer but that was enough for Karin to perform the ram seal and the chains pulled him down to his knees again.

"Have you forgotten in what position you're in?." I frowned as I felt a surge of chakra going to my eyes.

"Do you think I cannot escape? That I haven't fought against these chains in all my years of experience? Let me show you how wrong you are then." As soon as he finished speaking, he spat a seal to the floor, the contents instantly spread all over floor and the chains surrounding him slowly lost color and dissipated, leaving unrestrained and free to move wherever he wanted.

He proceeded to stretch his limbs as if trying to provoke me before flashing a smug smile.

After all, he was a sealmaster.

Without thinking it twice he quickly turned around and closed the distance towards Karin who looked at him in shock, Jiraiya had all the intentions to do exactly what he said he would've have done.

But I wasn't going to allow that to happen.

My hand had already unsheathed my blade and placed it right above his neck, preventing him to give one more step.

But just as I finished he also placed a his own weapon at the back of my neck at the same time, I could only guess it was a kunai.

"I see you still want to fight, but those secret that you desperately seek can be buried forever." I warned without looking at him.

He applied some pressure with the tip on my skin sending shivers down to my spine. "Oh really? One session with Ibiki will be enough to make you talk but my fists can be just as effective."

I too applied pressure on his skin."The Uchiha wasn't the only clan Orochimaru had been studying in all these years."

"What are you getting at?" He removed the kunai from my neck just like I did, our mutual understanding.

I turned to look at him to eye. "He was very detailed with his notes that even a genin can repeat the process."

I wasn't one hundred percent sure of my words but Orochimaru wasn't one who would study one topic forever, his pursue for knowledge wouldn't be stopped by trivial things.

It took seconds for Jiraiya assume and understand.

"You would wipe your own memories?" He asked with wide eyes, disbelief plastered all over his face.

It wasn't what I was thinking but it would work as well. "Why wouldn't I? My life had been a tragedy after tragedy a new fresh start is rather tempting." I snarled.

There were no lies in those words this new life was only filled with memories of tragedy in both past and future.

Jiraiya only looked at me in silence and tried to speak but whenever he opened his mouth nothing came out.

He finally sighed in defeat. "Very well, I will speak to Tsunade and try to convince her."

"Good to know that you are that stubborn, and I will leave this town soon."

"You aren't going to wait?" He frowned, he probably was expecting me to remain in one place.

"Of course not, I'm on a tight schedule." The Kiba blades were waiting for me.

Jiraiya scratched his head trying to come up with a solution."When you are done go to Tanzaku gai, Tayuya will be waiting for those notes."

"Not you?" I raised a brow questingly, that sensible information should be handed to him directly but I wasn't going to complain it wasn't my responsibility after all.

He kneeled to grab the scroll and store inside his clothes "I have a lot of work to do so I won't be able to wait for you." With that said he looked at the window and disappeared in a gust of wind.

I could finally deactivate my sharingan and let my eyes rest, better said I could felt my whole body relax.

A long sigh of relief followed before looking at my surroundings which had been damaged and my teammates were slowly recuperating, well Suigetsu was still a puddle that occasionally moved, at best he was comparable to a slime and Juugo was sleeping peacefully with the same bird from before using his hair as a nest.

"So you always wanted to kill Orochimaru?" Karin asked as she dusted her clothes.

"You wouldn't understand."

"I was worried."

"Your intervention was useful, we completely avoided a confrontation that I wasn't ready to face but I didn't know you could summon the famous Uzumaki chains." I needed more time to gather enough confidence in order to face all those Kage level shinobis, Jiraiya sudden intrusion weakened my confidence. Fighting those mongrels at the research facility didn't help in practice my abilities but only to rub my own ego, I needed to fight real shinobis.

"Me neither, when I saw him move I felt really scared and the chains appeared from the floor." Karin reply created some doubts.

"Can you do it again?"

"I don't know."

"Try with the table." I pointed at the small table that surprisingly survived unscathed the whole ordeal,

Karin's gaze shifted towards the place I was pointing and performed the ram seal with her hands and closed her eyes, however nothing happened and the more seconds passed the more disappointing it become because having Karin chains would be extremely useful especially when snatching the Jinchuurikis and if trained enough a freed Bijuu.

But my disappointment disappears the moment I saw thin trails coming out from her back. but compared to the chains that trained Jiraiya they were pathetic in every sense.

They couldn't even reach the table before dissipating into nothingness.

"Is more difficult than I imagined." She dropped her shoulders in dejection.

"But you can use them that's what matter, nothing that constant practice cannot achieve. However, something had been bothering me. How did you fail to detect those two?" I looked at her, Karin was supposed to be one of the best sensors in the elemental nations yet we never noticed those two until they were already next to us.

Karin closed her eyes and tried to focus for a while but shook her head. "He knows how to perfectly hide his chakra signature and Tayuya knows as well, is like trying to find a crab moving underground if they came jumping, running or using any sort of chakra then I would have immediately detected them."

Her explanation was understandable however it meant that her ability was flawed and way too lax.

"You should sharpen your sensory skills then, there can be patient enemies like him." Many could easily see a bird flying in the sky, few could see a fly passing through and even less could see a mosquito in the distance.

Karin was or eye in the sky but she needed to become our eagle in the sky.

"So...Do I get a reward for saving you?"

I only gave a flick to her head.

She rubbed the sore spot looking at me offended with puffed cheeks.

"Don't mess around, we have work to do."

* * *

**AN: As if I would send him to Konoha that soon, some of you guys are impatient or just skim through the chapter.**  
**And to clarify some doubts, this AU not only changes plot or character(Do I really need to say this, AGAIN?) but how certain things works as well like the Sharingan, I know how it works and it had been explained but still changed a bit just to fit for the story and explain other moments you will see in future chapters.**

**About Konoha, I kind of knew but your explanation only reassured me. Is difficult to find stories where there is a strong political play and dynamics along with cunningness and cruelty, I think I only read one where none of the villages were portrayed as the Good guys but as real militaristic villages always looking a weakness to exploit and a strong dynamics of politics treating their shinobis as mere tools like they are supposed to be and showing all those words of comradery or honor is just propaganda to increase their ranks. I mean most stories are always portrayed with clear good and bad guys where the good guys can do no wrong. Pretty much why I loved Pain arc and how he showed that there are no heroes in wars only monsters.**

**But demonizing is not something I like to do it feels cheap and lazy writing hence why I loathe bashing.**

**And the more I see about Karin and what had been done to her the more I realize how she was wasted. At the end of the day she was used a mere empty cheerleader for Sasuke. *Sighs***

**Well is not like she was the only unfortunate one but those characters didn't have much relevance in the story.**

**Fun Fact: The three sannins are based in the japanese folklore tale of Jiraiya the Gallant, the only difference with the story being that Jiraiya actually marries Tsunade and that Minato speed is thanks to Tengu Magic not seals.**


	8. Chapter 8

_**Disclaimer: Long live copyright or it shall strike us down for going against their unfair codes and laws.**_

* * *

After we were sure that Suigetsu and Juugo could walk without issue we immediately left the inn after gathering our things, Karin insisted in leaving behind some money to the owner since we were partially responsible for the property damage but I wanted to leave that sort of things to Jiraiya to handle since it was mostly his fault that walls were destroyed.

In the end, I only gave a small sum of money and told the owner to bill the rest to Konoha, even if that works or not it wasn't going to be my problem but at least the money was able to shut him up.

We headed to a tavern in search of informants but we were sent to another location where an informant was currently residing. He sold us all the information we needed and the expected date for the Chunin exams that being in a matter of weeks and even sold us an updated map. Suigetsu used the opportunity to ask more about the rest of the Legendary sword but didn't look pleased with hearing that Kirigakure recovered four of them, meaning the only way to recover them was to kill their users.

At least the Kiba blades weren't one of the swords that had been recovered.

The last sighting of them was at the Katabami gold mine where Raiga used to live, enforced his twisted law and had a humiliating death at the hands of kids. At our speed it took us less than 2 days what could have taken weeks in a carriage, with Karin around, working as our radar, we didn't encounter any problem.

I was sure that by the time I arrived at the mining town Jiraiya finished the talks with Tsunade and Tayuya was waiting for my notes along with their answer. But my plan after recovering the Kiba blades wasn't directed to meeting her any time soon, I wanted to practice my Kirin and all of my abilities against real shinobis.

Suigetsu liked the idea of fighting and Juugo didn't seem to object, but Karin was another story.

"I don't think is a good idea to have her waiting." She said

I assumed she wanted to catch up with her as soon as possible since the last meeting was rather abrupt.

"The Katabami gold mine is not that far from Tanzaku gai if we make a run for it, besides that town is famous for the entertainment it can provide to visitors so she won't get bored." Booze and gambling, the worst of the addictions to a human but perfect to supply the hedonistic desires of one.

"I know but…" She tried to protest further.

A hand immediately grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

"But nothing, as long as I get my blades I'm happy and if she gets pissed then is a plus." Suigetsu inserted himself into our conversation without any regard of respect or patience earning a hard glare from Karin.

I rolled my eyes, perhaps it was true that his hobby was to piss off people as much as possible.

He simply ignored her as his attention shifted towards a loud crowd. "Was the town supposed to look that alive?"

We all turned our attention to the crowd mentioned by him, many were leaving and coming with plastic bags while others were sitting on the ground eating something with or without manners.

Karin adjusted her glasses. "I don't think so, is odd that a mining town has this much attention, even if it produces gold."

The three of them looked at me expecting an answer.

"Is a restaurant, nothing special." I answered with only my judgment, a lot of people gathered in one place and were eating. A restaurant had to be, and a good one, that can attract tourists from outside.

"How long till lunch?" Suigetsu suddenly asked as he rubbed his stomach.

"Sasuke-kun?" She looked at me with expecting eyes while the other two looked at me for a positive answer.

"No, we get the blades and move on." The sooner the better, they needed a lot of training and I needed more fighting experience for the moment of truth against our first Akatsuki duo, we were weeks away from that moment.

Our waterboy shrugged and kept walking while Juugo blinked once and followed.

"Awww." Karin whined but didn't insist.

I didn't want to drop the facade but I too was a bit hungry and the smell didn't help either.

We kept moving forward until we arrived at the town itself except it was desolated as expected, only the restaurant from before had all the attention.

Nobody came to greets us or at least to watch the newcomers, it was a good thing tho.

When we reached the cemetery I gave the order to scatter and search for clues, however, we only found a small stone tablet right on the edge of the cliff. The rest of the place looked unscathed as if a fight never took place.

"So the last moment of Raiga was on this cliff." I commented.

I walked up to the edge and appreciated the natural sight of the landscape before my gaze went down.

A sea of trees, the blades are somewhere in that place.

Suigetsu walked next to me and clicked his tongue when he saw the green scenario. "Ugh, he could have committed suicide on land, it would have made things far easier for us."

I looked around hoping to find a road that led us to the valley below us but there were none, going back and search for a route would take time.

"Don't complain and jump." I said before taking the lead and jumping off the cliff, channeling my chakra to my feet to stick on the small edges or rocks. I looked up to see if they were following me but I was met by the falling figure of Juugo who simply jumped off and went directly to the ground. I could see a small cloud of dust form thanks to the impact below us.

I wanted to facepalm, I could have used my wings from the cursed seal to go down.

No sooner I felt the regret the same strange sensation on my back reappeared, I looked at my now grey-skinned hand to confirm the partial transformation before I jumped off again. Those appendages worked like a parachute slowing me down enough to maneuver and avoid the trees and land without issue.

Suigetsu soon landed as well, except he turned into a puddle splashing water everywhere while his sword buried deep into the ground. But merely seconds he fully reformed his body and strapped his sword on his back again.

Karin was the last to arrive, just as I tried first she used chakra to stick to the walls and ran the way down until she reached a height where she could safely jump.

We immediately separated into two groups to cover more ground, she wanted to tag with me but I send her off with Juugo.

Suigetsu was excited for the search always taking the lead and looking at every stone for any sort of clue of the Kiba's location while I was passively looking at my surroundings trying to see anything out of the ordinary.

However, the more time passed the more my anxiety grew. I was beginning to believe that the blades had been taken away before we could reach them but whenever those thoughts came I shook them off if anybody would have claimed them then the news would have spread like wildfire.

"Oi Sasuke!"

But my personals train of thoughts was interrupted by the loud voice of my teammate calling for me, call which I answered and went towards him.

"What?" However the moment I arrived a foul stench invaded my nostrils forcing me to cover myself out of instinct, I really couldn't believe that he called me just to show me shit, the reason I abstained myself from cursing.

"Look at this poor bastard." Suigetsu pointed me a charred body that had no recognizable features except but skin burned to the crisp and a strong stench of overcooked rotten meat.

However, there was a very noticeable feature, the corpse had no arms.

"This doesn't look recent," I said based on the flies already made their nests in various places all over the body and even some places had visible bones.

"I give him around two months, as you can see the Kiba blades are quite severe against the unworthy." Suigetsu commented followed by his sadistic grin.

"Let's keep looking." I assumed the blades weren't that far away.

The stench of the dead didn't dissipate, it was renewed wherever we went they were similar but weren't the same. We kept finding charred corpses and all of them had the same pattern, the arms were missing. Occasionally finding bodies that were eaten by the local wildlife.

But the difference started that they were recent cases compared to the first corpse.

I couldn't come up with an explanation after finding more than 10, if it was less then I would have accepted that they were unlucky idiots who wanted to keep the swords but that disturbing number made me think otherwise and the Kiba blades weren't around.

As we kept looking through the forest for more clues Karin landed in front of us followed by Juugo.

"Karin?" For her to appear in front of us could only mean two things, she found the blades or warn me of new chakra signatures.

"Sasuke we aren't alone." She answered with the second option.

"How many?" I felt it was inevitable to encounter others, but at the same time, I felt a rush of adrenaline to the surprise.

A fight against real shinobis was waiting for me.

"Ten and all of their chakra is strong." Karin said.

"Were you able to see them?" I asked any bit of information was important to plan our next move against them.

She shook her head. "No, the moment I detected them I came to inform you." Karin was a living radar, after all, not a satellite with a panoramic view.

I turned to our big guy. "Juugo?"

He extended his hand and gave a long whistle, not soon after he finished a bluish bird landed on his finger and started to chirp.

Soon after we heard the chirping of various birds coming from many directions for a long while before the woods went silent.

Advantageously, he can communicate with animals, somehow.

"Their camp is simple however is centered around an object and all of them wear the same symbol." He petted the bird on his hand.

Then he gave the bird a couple of seeds before it flew away.

"There we go, my blades are right there." Suigetsu grinned as he took the lead but was quickly stopped by Karin who instead of pulling him back she grabbed his arms and threw him back.

He didn't retaliate, only grinned with more savagery but quickly calmed down as I stepped between the two. Suigetsu couldn't move through the forest with reckless abandon unless he was looking for death, Karin was right to stop him.

Only then we proceed towards the shinobi camp with Karin taking the lead.

We carefully followed Karin directions to avoid being detected until their camp was within our view.

In our field of view, we noticed the Kiri symbol in their headbands.

"So Kiri already found one of their swords but do not have a wielder." That was the only explanation I could come up with since the legendary sword is still there untouched.

"If the charred bodies we have been finding scattered around mean anything, then they are still looking for one." Suigetsu said.

In other words, they had been trying for quite some time but failed miserably with each try which is why they established a camp and some supplies.

"Sasuke-kun I feel three more coming," Karin warned me.

I frowned at the news, 13 shinobis was a large numerical advantage to ignore it was clear that we couldn't force our way through.

"If we try to recover the blades Kiri will immediately tag us a missing nins and send Hunter nins after us," I warned it was obvious that they wouldn't let their relics go at any cost. And it was counterproductive to become enemies with the villages, however, the Kiba blades were a necessary tool for my fight against the Akatsuki, giving up was out of the question.

"Unless we kill every single one of them." Suigetsu suggested.

I pondered the possibility but I shook my head. "Is impossible, even with Karin's help we aren't enough to pursue and destroy." I could fight them for getting the fighting experience and polishing my skills but the risk wasn't worth it, if it was less than 7 then I would have gone for the attack.

Even a stealth attack wouldn't give better results.

One could always slip away while the rest fight us to the death, even with Karin pinpointing his location the others would stop us from pursuing.

"Why don't you use the Kirin?" Suigetsu suggested a very good idea.

For a moment I felt the light of realization hit me, but as soon as it came it faded.

"Look at the sky, you see any storm forming?" I pointed at the sky clear as the water, having an extremely powerful jutsu in my arsenal was a godsend but being so restricted with the condition after condition didn't help.

"Just saying." He shrugged.

But he was right, if I could use the Kirin I was sure of a total wipeout and reduce them to ashes, only a Suusano could survive as far as I knew.

"Sasuke look." Karin pointed to a specific Kiri shinobi.

My eyes narrowed the moment I saw the bluish short hair a pair of goggles and a large bandaged weapon strapped on his back, impossible to not recognize Chojuro's overall appearance.

"Another of my swords!" Suigetsu happily exclaimed.

"So they brought their new generation," I commented as my memories resurfaced, he was tasked by Mei Terumi to recover the legendary swords and with the information we bought is more than clear that he had been doing a good job.

I had a feeling both would end up facing each other sooner or later but didn't expect to be that soon.

Suigetsu snickered at my comment. "Heh, that? He is way too weak to properly wield that sword, to begin with, and look at the way he walks, he clearly lacks spine."

I didn't say anything but those two were from different generations, Suigetsu's generation being way more brutal in their teachings and lack of morals.

"Let's see."

Chojuro walked up to the blades and pulled them out of the ground as if it was nothing and started to practice his swings and proceeded with different sword stances.

"I will be damned."

"It seems the Kiba blades accepted him." Karin turned to look at Suigetsu with a smug look on her face, clearly enjoying Suigetsu frustration.

"What the hell is wrong with them?!" He yelled, which earned a direct hit to the face to shut him up.

We were close to the enemy he couldn't just go running around and screaming.

"Sasuke-kun, I feel chakra gathering in a single point." She pointed at the sky, more specifically the clouds slowly moving around in circles as their white color slowly darkened.

My gaze went towards Chojuro who had been pointing the Kiba blades towards the sky doing small circles in the air.

"He is testing them."

"Heh, now you have the storm." Suigetsu said.

I looked again at the now darkened sky with the dark clouds still circling us.

Chojuro pointed one of the blades to a tree relatively far and almost immediately a thunder struck the poor tree. The other shinobis were quick to act and stopped the fire before it could spread to the rest of the forest.

How convenient.

"No witnesses."

I raised my right arm as I looked at the scene below us, I felt the chakra flowing towards my hand.

So ignorant of the truth and the incoming calamity while they were cheering for Chojuro's success with a smile on their faces.

Cute.

"KIRIN!"

* * *

_**AN: For some reason, I don't get any alerts for PMs which is odd, I just found out I got PMs that date from February, sorry to those who send them I genuinely didn't know since no notification was sent to my inbox.**_

_**I expected mixed reviews about the last chapter and well I guess I suck at delivering obvious but not so obvious messages if you catch my meaning, I need more practice then. Anyways, there is no point in being op if you lack confidence without it you are going to lose against opponents weaker than you I guarantee you that. But convenient intervention and all that stuff, yeah expect them to happen since is a trope I will be using since well I said I would be using many tropes and cliches that my other story won't have (the numbers are getting closer NOOOOO), dammit I should have been more specific then.**_

_**Though, how can I write an epic fight if you are so broken that you can end the fight in a second should I approach the One punch man theme? Haha, joking doesn't worry fights and all the stuff you have been expecting will come from this chapter onwards.**_

_**But I'm Curious, why when I update I barely see an increase of favs and follows but the next day my feed has flooded those alerts? I mean that's great but does it mean that I have a crippling lag?**_

_**Joking**_


	9. Chapter 9

**_Disclaimer: Corona-chan might become the owner of the world._**

* * *

Soon after the sky wept.

Trying to wash away the scene, but it could do nothing to fix the smoking crater that was left behind and the ashes couldn't mix with water.

I watched how everyone was pulverized on the spot as the Kirin touched them; I didn't even give them a second to scream.

Suigetsu stood next to me watching the scene below us before giving a long whistle. "That Kirin of yours is no joke."

I looked again at the scene and noticed that while I have gotten all of them the improved camp wasn't destroyed

"Check for anything that might come of value." I didn't have many hopes but maybe just maybe we could get our hands of some useful scroll.

"Yeah, yeah." He left my side to do his new task as I kept looking at the scenery below.

"Sasuke-kun, I still detect a chakra signature." Karin pulled my sleeve as she pointed at a small pile of earth.

I followed Karin towards the center of the crater only to be surprised to find Chojuro coming out from a pile of the earth using the Kiba blades to support his body, breathing heavily.

"How did he not turn into ashes like the rest?" Karin immediately asked as she went behind me seeking protection.

My gaze fell on the Kiba blades. "I can only guess the swords had to do something about his survival."

However, he didn't look unscathed, better said; he had a terrible appearance, some part of his body was burned while parts of his clothes were burned. As if he survived hell and came back, but I hated the fact that he could survive my Kirin with other things besides the Susano.

It only created more doubts if the Akatsuki had their methods to survive an attack of such magnitude under their sleeve, especially a Shinobi like Kakuzu.

My train of thought was halted as my mind instinctively reacted and caught shuriken mid-air. Slowly I turned to see Chojuro looking at me with ragged breaths but frustration clear on his face that his stealth attack failed.

"So you can still move."

"I...I won't go down that easily."

I felt a surge within me of excitement for a moment, and soon after my vision went red.

"Sh-Sharingan?!" He exclaimed.

It was clear that he recognized me as an Uchiha and unless Konoha knew to hide my relative defection in the shadows then nobody would know that I wasn't part of Konoha forces anymore.

"Go ahead, fight me." I unsheathe my katana and shifted my stance.

It was time to test myself against a shinobi.

My eyes predicted his attempt to reach something from his burned clothes, earning a direct strike on his shoulders with the blunt side, sending his face to taste the dirt and ashes of his former comrades.

"Don't try dirty tricks with me, you cannot fool my eyes." I had no idea he was planning to do but I would never have given him the chance to show me.

"So..s be it!" He shakily stood up and pointed his weapons at me for a second before he rushed at me.

The Sharingan was truly the strongest of tools, allowing me to predict the direction of his next attack and even seeing it in slow motion.

I only needed to sidestep to the left, his attack missing entirely while leaving all his lower body exposed. I delivered a kick right under his abdomen, sending him crashing towards the ground again.

"Hmph, slow."

My mockery caused him to try again with a futile attack targeting my legs from both sides, leaving the middle completely exposed.

I used the advantage given to me and use y own weapon to aim for his chest but his wrist shifted slightly causing the direction of his blade to change course and intercept my katana just in time to force a parry moving my arms towards the place he wanted, exposing my chest.

The time he used to try to stab me on the gut, however, I dodged it without much issue, and kicked his chest again sending him flying meter away from me. I was more surprised by the fact of how slow it happened that let me remain calm the moment he intercepts my attack.

But it was clear to me that my kenjutsu was a bit lax compared to somebody who practiced the art for probably his entire life.

"I don't think this is all that amount the new generation of the swordsmen of the mist." I didn't believe my words as well since I believed that he was supposed to be way stronger than he currently was unless surviving my Kirin weakened him a lot.

"Shut up!" He yelled as he got up from the group taking his fighting stance again and closed the distance between us in a breath time.

I met both blades with mine in a clash of strength, or what was supposed to be one, I wasn't exerting much stronger while he was gritting his teeth trying to overpower me. I only pushed him away and he fell on the ground again trying to catch his breath.

But just when I tried to get closer a shuriken right to my face, but I only dodged to the left since both hands were occupied.

Chojuro showed his bluff and was already standing in front of me with the same eyes of anger.

"Predictable."

He pointed both blades towards the sky and moved in circles causing the weeping sky to surge with anger.

"Leave." I commanded knowing what was about to happen, Karin obeyed without hesitation and disappeared from the scene.

Just in time before Chojuro pointed at me.

And the sky rage struck me.

However, it never touched me, instead, it directly landed on my katana before flying towards the direction it was pointing, the ground and dissipating completely.

I brought my blade closer for a quick inspection. "Interesting, I didn't know I could redirect lighting."

I only knew that Sasuke could imbue his blade with chakra and even use it to perform his Chidori Nagashi, not use it in such away.

The sky struck my blade again, the sparks coming out but the lighting flew back towards the sky barely touching my skin.

"You should know how pointless it is after the first attempt, right?

Chojuro stabbed the Kiba blades on the ground and looked at me with anger as his hands reached for the handles of his signature weapon, the Twin blades.

"I don't think so!"

Only to meet a dropkick on his face sending him flying and crashing against what I could consider the wall of the crater.

Right where Chojuro used to be, was Suigetsu standing.

"The moment I heard the thunders I knew you would be fighting." He turned to me waiting for some kind of reply but I remained silent.

"Who...who are you?" Chojuro was the one who spoke catching Suigetsu attention.

He grinned as he pulled out his massive sword, letting it rest on his shoulder."The one who will rebuild the Legendary swordsmen of the mist and you have 2 of my swords."

His bold declaration ignited the anger in Chojuro, my Sharingan easily detected his body channeling more chakra enhancing himself to ignore his injuries to fight Suigetsu with everything he could muster.

"I... have been entrusted to recover the glory of the swordsmen of the mist by Terumi-sama, not you."

Suigetsu dismissed his claim as he paid more attention to whatever he found inside his ear before he finally turned his attention. "Yeah about that, you suck. You lack everything that is required to wield one of the legendary swords even less two, why did they accept you in the first place I do not understand."

Suigetsu idealism of a worthy wielder was beyond twisted, there had to be more reason for a sword to recognize its user but I didn't say anything.

"Oi Sasuke! Can I have my fun alone?" Suigetsu turned again to ask me for permission.

"You have a minute." I returned my katana to its sheath, the spectacle was about to start and my Sharingan would record every second of it.

His grin twisted, revealing his sharp teeth in full view.

"This won't even take a minute." He boasted and took the first step towards the fight.

My Sharingan could see what happened next in slow motion analyzing and even copying every movement, and there was one word to describe his onslaught.

Sadism.

He jumped and brought down the blunt side of his blade crashing on the terrain, Chojuro barely escaping from the impact zone tried to plan for his next move but was given no time to think as the oversized blade attempted to cut his hands off.

He tried to get a better position, but it was impossible since Suigetsu didn't allow him to stay in one place, he even surprised me in the way he handled Zabuza's blade.

He used his neck as a rotating point where his sword could spin at a fast pace making it impossible for Chojuro to even block the attack without risking an injury.

In such a desperate manner Chojuro did a terrible mistake in trying to deliver a strike on his own with the Twin blades but Suigetsu had been waiting for that exact blunder.

He easily parried the attack and with his free hand, using the momentum to grapple Chojuro's arm and using all the weight of his sword he snapped his arm.

I winced at the sound of a bone-cracking.

But his sadism didn't end with only a broken arm since he was close he didn't hesitate to make use of his sharp teeth and rip flesh from Chojuro's shoulder before he could retreat to a safer location.

Suigetsu spat the piece of flesh and licked his lips as he slowly approached his victim.

With the little strength he had left Chojuro tried to raise his arm to deliver at least one more strike but the moment it went up, it also flew for a second before landing on the ground along with one of the blades.

His body immediately collapsed.

Suigetsu sighed in disappointment and returned his weapon on the straps.

"I should have guessed that they oriented your generation toward sadism," I commented as my vision returned to its normal color, there was nothing more to copy and memorize.

"We are supposed to instill fear on the heart of the enemy with on the mention of our names, so what should we do with this chump?" He pointed at the pitiful form of probably the last loyal Swordsmen of the mist, even if I was no expert in the medical I could tell that he didn't have much time left.

"Didn't I say no witnesses?" A mercy kill would do.

"True true." He slowly walked to the body and with one hand he lifted the barely conscious body and opened his mouth wide and lunged at the throat, splashing blood everywhere.

He ripped Chojuro's throat with his sharp teeth.

Like a fountain that was broken the blood splashed everywhere, staining large part of his body.

"Was that even necessary?" I frowned and much to my recent surprise the sadistic scene didn't shock me but disgusted me a lot.

"You told me to kill him."

"Anybody would have cut the head or Pierce the heart!" Karin exclaimed from afar.

"Well, as you can see I'm not anybody." He shrugged.

"Forget it, Karin did he had any bounty?" I turned to her who already closed the distance between us.

"Chojuro right? Let me check." She pulled out her bingo books and went through the pages at a rapid pace before showing me his picture. "Only the black market, 450 thousand ryo."

It was quite the sum of money but not as much as I expected from a trusted aide for the Mizukage, perhaps he didn't earn enough achievement and reputation to increase his price.

"I couldn't care less about the money because I got TWO SWORDS!" Suigetsu retrieved the Hiramekarei and soon after the glowed in a bluish color before considerable shrinking in size until it could store them in a pocket.

However, he pulled some of his hair and created an improved collar where he hanged the smaller twin swords as a collar before turning the attention towards the Kiba blades.

he approached with the same happy expression as his hand reached for the hilt but the moment his hand touched them, lighting strike came causing a small shockwave that sent him flying away and crashing against a wall before exploding like a balloon.

"What the hell?!" He slowly reformed his body back."Why Kiba blades rejected me?!" He shouted.

"Shouldn't you have turned into a crisp then?" I raised my eyebrow as I remembered his explanation and gross examples from before.

"It is different! They don't want me to wield them that's why they pushed me back rather than burn me."

I was intrigued by the last part, in other words, he was a worthy user but it didn't want him specifically.

"Perhaps…"

"Oi Oi you know the consequences." Suigetsu tried to stop me but the rest of his words fell deaf on my ears as I kept walking toward them.

I looked at their form. "I see, you loved my lighting didn't you?"

Small sparks flew from their sharpness.

Both hands went from their handles and pulled them up from the ground, and the sky strikes me a third time but again nothing serious happened. I only felt a slightly ticklish sensation on my arms for a moment.

"I cannot believe it." Suigetsu muttered as he looked at me with wide eyes.

I couldn't hide my smirk as I admired the sharpness of my new blades.

"Believe it, I'm now the owner of the Kiba."

* * *

_**AN: *Sighs***_

_**Now, this is more popular than my other story with only a fifth of chapters and much less thought, goddamit I'm sulking so hard.**_

_**Anyways….**_

_**Being in lockdown gets boring fast and even worse because EVERYONE in my country is using the internet so we all are getting a very shitty connection. I cannot even read manga without getting a timeout error (FML), writing even gets a little tiresome if you do that for long times. And I cannot even play Minecraft with my friends.**_

_**Thank god I got KCD free from epic, it helps me to kill time. (Fuck those Cumans) And if you are wondering, my university also canceled lessons but unlike ALL other universities we do not have virtual lessons at all and if this gets worse than perhaps, we might have since it grows in the dozens every day.**_

_**What kills me more is the fact since my country declared Lockdown I cannot go and ask for my paycheck, which I was so eager to get after 2 months of work.**_

_**Anyways after this, I will update my other story….**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Disclaimer: The end isn't near, just close.**_

* * *

Our team immediately left the zone as soon as Karin detected incoming shinobis, not giving Suigetsu time to give his honest opinion about me getting the legendary swords. Leaving the mining town our focus was to arrive at the nearest bounty outpost connected to the black market, despite being connected with the shady side of the world it didn't need to be hidden or worry about attacks, as Karin explained me the black market wasn't exactly illegal in the sense that cities and village consider illegal operations but more like a free market for the shinobi villages.

Is a whole underground business with no allegiance, auctioning bodies and secrets to the best bidder and since every village benefited from its business, nobody checked or tried to stop them.

Besides, it was the only source for income to rogue bounty hunters like Kakuzu.

Karin was the one to guide us towards the nearest outpost and when we arrived, I noticed how simple it looked, like a small room that a common property guard would use. When we passed the door, a man dressed like a surgeon greeted us, without saying much, Karin handed him the scroll that contained Chojuro's corpse. He inspected the scroll for a moment before opening the metal door behind him, signaling us to enter with him.

Everyone followed without saying anything but I had my doubts, after the little encounter with Jiraiya I believe I had gotten a bit paranoid so I grabbed the hilt of the Kiba blades as I followed them inside when I noticed a set of stairs leading to an underground room.

When I reached the bottom, a disgusting stench of rotting flesh invaded my nostrils, I resisted the urge to gag.

It had a few lights barely illuminating the whole room, only a large metal table had many lamps that the man soon turned them on and soon after he activates the storage scroll, revealing Chojuro's corpse.

It was very convenient that time was stopped inside one of those storage scrolls or we would have been greeted by a rotting corpse.

The fake surgeon analyzed every inch of the corpse that he could possibly see with his eyes on the superficial level, only then he pulled out a catalog where he turned page after page until he found the one he was looking for and closed his catalog.

Everything was done silently without uttering a word to any of us, he slowly walked towards the wall of a room, slightly disappearing from our sight thank to the dark environment of the underground room only to appear with a suitcase which he promptly opened showing us its contents filled with stacks of money.

Karin quickly counted the money before closing the case and grabbing it.

The transaction was done and there was no reason for us to remain in that room anymore, and I was the first to leave, fresh air which I badly needed after enduring that much time down there greeted me.

Immediately I took a deep breath trying to forget that horrible stench.

Karin came out pinching her nose followed by a very silent Juugo. "Ugh, they should at least use chloroform or anything to stop the smell."

I had to silently agree with her, even some cheap incense would have worked.

"Did you expect the smell of flowers inside a cemetery?" Suigetsu was the last to arrive, but that didn't stop him from direct his snarky remarks towards her.

She turned to face him. "I worked in worse places and it didn't smell like this."

I didn't know what she was referring but the attitude she showed at the facility massacre was enough to believe her words.

Even Juugo agreed with her with a simple nod.

"I want to get some frozen yogurt again." Suigetsu spoke but my attention shifted to Karin.

"Karin any signatures of interest?" I asked.

She focused for a couple of seconds before shaking her head. "I can't feel any."

Her response made me think of what to do, but it was clear that there was one thing left to do before I could finally focus in my training to adapt and even increase my strength.

"Let's go to Tanzaku gai then, however, we hunt for any bounty that may cross our paths." I turned to Karin. "I hope you already know which heads frequent the area." That was the current plan, but practicing against shinobi's was still in my priority list, and since she was technically the brain of our group memorizing a couple of faces wouldn't be that difficult for her.

"I do know some but I don't think they will be around any longer, it wouldn't be logical to let your enemies your location." Karin commented as she went to check the book again.

I walked a couple of steps before I unsheathed one of the Kiba blades and checked its design; I didn't have the time before and the rain didn't help much but now it was different circumstances.

But just as I was checking on its design a hand quickly grabbed my shoulder pulling me back.

"So Sasuke!" It was no other but Suigetsu wearing a very wide grin on his face trying to pull me closer as if we were best buddy since forever who could share their warmth.

Without thinking it twice, I pushed him aside. "Get to the point."

It was difficult to hide my irritation towards his sudden buddy-buddy attitude, but for the moment I had to remain calm and composed.

"I can offer you some training." He suggested.

"I don't need training from somebody weaker than me." I arrogantly replied before I turned back to my last activity, the blade was surprisingly pretty to the eye.

"Your strength is relative to me since we never fought so you cannot use that excuse against me unless you defeat me in a fight." He placed himself in front of me and grabbed the hilt of his blade. "Wanna go for a round?"

His words ignited something, the desire to accept was increasing and so my attention.

"You never asked for a fight, why the sudden interest?" I went for the hilt of the Kiba as well, nobody was so sure of the sudden future after all.

Suigetsu dropped his shoulders along with his posture, releasing a long sigh, destroying the image and desire for a fight. "Can you really blame me? I have been shocked twice in a day, first the blades accepted that wimp and then you?"

"Are you calling me a wimp?" His words were practically a spit to my new innate pride as an Uchiha, quickly sending a wave of fire under my skin ready to burst.

Suigetsu quickly brought up both hands as he took a step back. "Of course not, you can easily instill fear on your enemies but your swordsmanship is lacking in techniques."

He made me think for a moment since it was true that I lacked kenjutsu techniques; it was an internal debacle if it was worth learning how to properly wield my weapon and look cool or remain with my very lax kenjutsu style.

"For the moment I don't have the need to learn styles since I will be using them to call a storm for my Kirin, that was the original purpose for their retrieval." I explained, with more pressing matter at hand giving me time to train a new subject wouldn't be efficient, it was much better to use my remaining time to polish and even improve what I already have at hand.

"So you might be asking me for lessons some point in the future."

"Perhaps."

He became like the cheshire cat with the iconic grin while he patted my back a couple of times until I pushed him away, he was getting ahead of himself.

Yet our time was interrupted as scalpels flew past us, impaling themselves on the ground.

"If you dare to start a fight in my ground, I will blacklist you all, kill yourselves away from here." Said the man dressed as a surgeon with the slight differences that his attire had some parts covered with fresh blood.

He promptly shut the door closed.

His sudden intervention left a metallic taste in my mouth for not delivering a proper retaliation to his arrogant attitude.

But at the same time my rational mind knew for a fact that if anything were to happen to his type, we would immediately be blacklisted and bounties would be put in our heads, they had that relative power in the shinobi world.

Enough to not be messed with.

Or at least that's what Karin told me.

"So Sasuke, wanna test your new swords in some bandits?" Suigetsu grinned again.

"I don't have time to waste with garbage, the Chunin exams are closing in and I still need Tsunade's pardon to operate freely inside the fire country." I walked away without glancing at him.

"Just saying." He was quick on his feet and was already besides me.

Karin didn't waste time and went for my arm to walk next to me, I didn't try to shake her off since we would be traveling at Shinobi speed it was more like out of charity to let her have her own moment of fun.

And finally Juugo was closely behind us, keeping his silence as always.

Jiraiya said that Tayuya would be the one waiting for me to bring all of Orochimaru's notes about Akatsuki, which was a good thing since I had more questions for her that I didn't have the chance to ask back at the inn.

She might even disclose something interesting.

And I wanted a new set of clothes.

* * *

**AN: Lockdown extended for another month yay!**

**Despite being a guy who likes to be inside home reading and playing, I too feel the need to leave my house GODDAMMIT!**

**Well, thanks to the quarantine and economical hiatus my life project is gone, now I'm forced to start a new project since I cannot wait for things to return to normal.**

**To be honest is crushing to being told that your plans are worthless and you must start news ones from the scratch and without help since the other I had a lot of help and many connections to go through with it, unless there is a miracle and the scientist create the vaccine by the next month which is outright impossible.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and now let's see how much it takes to reach 1k because this rate is high and I'm very thankful for that support guys after all, what is a writer without an audience?**


	11. Chapter 11

_**Disclaimer: Memes are the true and only currency of this world, meaning that with enough memes we can buy Naruto.**_

* * *

Honestly, I could tell if it was unfortunate or lucky that we didn't encounter any bounty target in our journey to Tanzaku gai, it would have been nice to practice more against targets but time wasn't something we could spend at our own leisure.

Unlike the other towns, our arrival to Tanzaku gai didn't bring any attention to us at all, people didn't turn to look at us with curiosity. The city itself being a center of entertainment would attract a diverse population of tourist, it made sense that nobody would be surprised at the appearance of our unique group the moment we passed through the large gate.

The streets were busy and the merchants promoting their products.

The scenario reminded me of the bridge from the little port town, but only the entrance because the principal street led to the main attraction, the Casinos.

"This town looks way more alive than the last one." Our swordsman commented while he checked our surroundings with mild interest.

"Of course it would, this place is a center for entertainment to satisfy people hedonism in every possible way." Karin has always delivered new knowledge for our group whenever the opportunity arises.

"We need to look for Tayuya, can you sense her?" I asked her, Jiraiya never specified where exactly we could find her or how she would communicate with us. It only left us with our own redhead to locate the other.

But all those hopes died down when she shook her head.

"I do recognize her chakra signature but I cannot feel it anywhere within the town."

Suigetsu groaned. "In other words, the bitch is hiding as a revenge."

I rolled my eyes at his words; he was so eager to make her wait and now he was complaining of the retribution, how ironic.

I turned to Juugo again to ask for his critter's help, but he was fast to shake his head as if he read my mind. "The people scared off all the animals within the vicinity."

"What an annoyance, we will have to ask around but I doubt there are other redheads than you two." With my statement made we started as a group our search for the girl in the big town but as soon as we asked the locals we found obstacles to our search.

The locals didn't have a single clue of who we were talking about, and the girls for my case only focused on me, acting as fangirls wasting my time with their endless questions.

The shops refused to even acknowledge us if we would buy nothing from them, unless the worker was a girl who immediately became interested in me and failed to invite me for a cup of tea.

When I looked up at the sky, the Sun was midway to reach the horizon, if we didn't find Tayuya before night came then we would have to wait for the next day because the town had a lively night as Casinos towns should have, the major influx of people occur at nighttime after all, which in turn would make it next to impossible to find the redhead.

But the stress was building up in my team, it wouldn't be efficient to keep them like that for more than necessary, besides I really wanted a small break to do another activity from my list like buying clothes.

I turned around and moved to a different direction from where our group was heading.

But Karin was quick enough to grab my wrist and stop me from giving one more step.

"Where are you going?"

"To get a new set of clothes first." My reply came fast.

"Let me go with you!" She gleamed a smiled.

"Whatever."We continued moving forward for some time before Karin abruptly stopped and turned to face the other two behind us.

"Why are you following us?! Don't you see we want privacy?!" Our red head screamed.

"Shut up, our big guy shouldn't be left alone to begin with and I don't want to ask around to a bunch of people alone."

She turned her frustration to me. "Ugh! Sasuke-kun say something."

I realized I didn't want their company when I would be looking for clothes, their attitude couldn't match and more problems would arise from a simple matter

"Karin, give them some money so he can take Juugo to eat."

She pulled out from her uniform a considerable stack of money and threw it towards the ground with disdain, but Suigetsu was faster and caught it mid air flashing his unique smile, the one which only an enemy uses to show his hostility.

It was my curiosity, but I wondered for a while if Karin was deliberating provoking Suigetsu to attack her and force my hand? The girl wasn't an idiot; she was a meticulous girl and had a side of cruelty perfectly exemplified weeks ago at her old facility.

For the best outcome, I pulled her back, creating a distance between the volatile couple. "Don't cause problems."

Suigetsu pulled back as well, looking at Karin with a smug smile.

"With my frozen yogurt I won't!" He exclaimed before pushing Juugo towards their new destination, our big guy didn't voice any discontent but showed a slight interest of what Suigetsu wanted to do with him.

Soon enough they disappeared within the crowd.

"That idiot is right Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't leave Juugo alone." Karin brought out a legitimate matter of concern.

"He won't lose control, he firmly believes that if something were to happen, I will come to stop him."

She looked up at me for a moment trying to make sense from my words but shook her head. "I don't understand."

"I didn't have to restrain him even once in all this time, he believes in me and that's enough to keep him down." I reassured with my hypothesis, but honestly speaking, I was putting a lot of trust in Juugo's individual ability to maintain control.

If things had a turn for the worse at least, I knew that he would make cause a big commotion, making it easy to find him and subdue him in an instant before things escalated and then run away from the authorities.

Karin kept her gaze on me for a couple of seconds before closing her eyes and turned around.

"Anyway, I cannot wait to buy some new clothes!" She immediately jumped in glee.

"You want new clothes too?" I raised an eyebrow, wondering about her sudden change of attitude.

"Of course I do! I cannot go moving from place to place with only one set of clothes."

"I don't see the issue." If my memories served me well, Sakura, Ino and Hinata wore the same set of clothes when I was still a part of Konoha.

"You are a man, you wouldn't understand." She puffed her cheeks with her nose held high.

What a sexist remark.

She grabbed my hand and led me at a fast pace to wherever the clothing stores could be.

When we arrived to a specific street, she immediately left my side and ran towards the nearest store where she pressed her face on the glass window to get a better look at the beautiful clothes in exhibition until I got closer so she could change towards another store.

But as some time passed, it was surprisingly amusing to watch Karin acting like a kid who entered a candy store, meeting another side of her besides her professional and her love-struck attitude wasn't a common occurrence.

For the best I left her to enjoy her own world as I glanced every store, one would catch my attention, eventually.

I stopped in front of a large store, as such it had a crowd of people entering and leaving with their shopping bags. What truly caught my attention was the exhibition manikins flashing simple but cool men's clothing like a leather jacket, hoodies, ripped jean shorts and tight pants, the nostalgia hit me with force.

It would be nice to have them and have a day for myself.

"May I be of help?" A voice brought me out from my nostalgic world, the owner was no other but a male worker who piqued my interest in their products, he had the stereotypical happy merchant look. To find a man working in that kind of industry wasn't uncommon as far as I could remember, but usually the female workers are preferred for more reasons than just their good looks.

"I want a new shirt."

"Right this way!" He showed me the way inside the store just in time, so the female workers took their turn to guide me inside their store.

"Wait Sasuke-kun!" Karin shouted my name from the entrance.

"And help my friend to decide."I pointed her with my thumb, to make it easier for the workers to recognize Karin.

"I didn't mean that!" Karin tried to protest, but I was already being taken away, the rest of her protest went deaf to my ears as she was being taken away to another section of the store.

Deeper inside the store there was an entire section for men's clothing, and a small part was only filled with shirt of all sizes, colors and models. I looked away from a moment and noticed a mannequin wearing the same clothes than the one at the entrance; I wanted to see more but the girl grabbed my hand and led me closer to the rows of shirts.

"As you can see, we have a large variety of shirts I hope one of them may be of your liking."

"I will take it from here."

She bowed and left my side giggling towards the growing group of giggling girls not so far from me; it was exactly the same what happened back at Wave, so annoying.

I looked between the shirts until I found a gray short-sleeved shirt with a zipper, a close examination revealed that it had a resemblance of Sasuke's shirt with the difference that it didn't have the Uchiha symbol on the back. For diversity's sake I grabbed a white one as well and moved towards the section that caught my interest first.

I grabbed a blue hoodie and a pair of shorts before I headed to one of the many female workers who had been watching me, daydreaming...

Since I didn't know the place at all I had to approach the group fro directions. "Where is the changing room?"

"Hmmm...at the woman's section you need to turn to the right and go straight, is hard to miss since the ladies always form a long queue at the opposite side."

When I arrived I quickly closed the door and finally have one moment of privacy for myself.

The shirt was the perfect fit as expected so I didn't put much thought into them but the other clothes was another thing, wearing the shirt I chose I posed in front of the mirror.

I really liked the hoodie, and the shorts gave me a sense of freedom instead of the tight pants that I had been using in the last couple of weeks.

After posing a couple of times I changed my clothes back and left the changing room, heading towards the cashier.

"Sasuke-kun wait!" But Karin's voice stopped me.

I turned to see at her direction and noticed her waving her hand at me to come closer, better said she called me toward her own dressing room. Since I didn't want to be that much of an asshole I complied to her request, an action that earned quite the number of jealousy stares.

"What do you want?" I asked when I was close enough and away from the unwanted stares.

Right at that instant, she threw open the door. "Look!"

Karin surprised me with her new clothes, a loose lavender sleeveless qipao which reached her hips and her arms were completely covered by long black skin tight arm warmers, my eyes lowered to find that she tied her uniform around her waist but she kept her black shorts and her long black thigh-high stockings.

"That's... a very creative choice."

Karin's face immediately heated up at my particular choice of words and looked away, scratching her right cheek. "Thanks..."

She was so occupied acting all flushed that she didn't notice the nasty glares from the other girls and ladies from the store who by the look of things had been staring at us since she called for me.

Together we went to the cashier and paid what I could assume was a considerable amount of money, yet having millions at the price didn't affect me at all. However, before leaving I took my chances and asked them about Tayuya whereabouts or if they have at least seen her.

But it was in vain, the workers shook their head and told us that we should try our luck at the casinos.

We left the establishment to resume with our search with the relatively short time we had left after we stored our clothes inside one of her storage scrolls.

"She enjoys drinking so any bar can be a place we can search for her." Karin suddenly remembered.

"It would be better to start again before the sun sets."

We didn't need to ask for directions, the entertainment district was clear to the view and some Casinos were high enough to be seen from a distance.

Karin still tried to locate her with her sensory abilities but she couldn't sense her at all, except she mentioned a couple of chakra signatures moving within the city in different directions, I got Tsunade's pardon yet I couldn't discard the possibility of a Konoha shinobi team sent against me for other reasons, but the more likely possibility was that those shinobis came to enjoy themselves in a city of sin.

I chose one casino which had a focus more on card games and much to my relief I found the redhead in one of table playing what I could assume Poker with a group.

Karin wanted to call for her, but I quickly placed my hand on her and approached her table in silence.

The dealer gave the signal and all the players threw their hand, almost immediately one screamed in joy and started to jump on the spot.

Tayuya slammed her head on the table while the other player groaned and left the table with their head low.

As an act of sincerity I patiently waited for her to sulk and recover from her loss, which didn't take long.

She stood up and was ready to depart until we finally crossed gazes.

"Oh..."

"Yes, I've finally arrived." I finished in her stead.

Her face contorted into a frown. "You took your fucking time, princess."

"You don't seem to be bored." I threw a jab to her pride.

"Well, I can't since I just lost half of my money." She pointed a table where an out of shape man with a mustache was laughing uncontrollably while hugging stacks of money and tokens.

"Have you ever heard of cashing out?" Any sane person would cash out his or her winnings, casinos are only a dark abyss that you should never stare for long times. At least that's what I would do as soon as possible if I ever won in a casino.

Better said, Tayuya brought out a particular thought, my Sharingan could be the perfect tool to cheat the casinos from their money, with the ability of predict others next move and discern lies from truths, I could easily make a fortune in Tanzaku gai.

"Where is the fun in that?" She grabbed an old bag and threw her recently converted money inside."Besides you know that Casinos don't like when you take a lot from them."

There was truth in her words but I highly doubted that they could command high ranking shinobis to do their biddings and even then I doubt that any of them could pose any threat to me or Suigetsu and much less Juugo.

"Anyway, what's Tsunade's response."

"Oh right, you have a letter along with her answer." She pulled the zipper and rummaged through her bag for a moment.

"A letter?"

"Yup." She handed me a pair of scrolls and a small piece of paper.

I quickly unfolded the paper, but I only found a single sentence written with capital letters.

'I HOPE YOU CHOKE ON A DICK AND DIE!'

The paper became ashes in my hand before I could crumble and throw it into the trash.

"Sensitive, are you?" Tayuya's words went deaf to me, my attention shifted to the scrolls.

The first thing I noticed was the official Hokage seal, I opened it with no more doubts.

"Just what I wanted and more." I didn't want to hide my smile of satisfaction since Tsunade accepted my demands meaning that I no longer would be pursued by Konoha forces, my freedom to roam the Fire country and much to my surprise the authority of the Uchiha treasury was transferred to me, it was surprising how valuable information about the Akatsuki members could reach.

Or Jiraiya was that convincing

Or Naruto had something in the matter, probably the later.

The dobe should learn when to let it go, it wasn't healthy to hold on an obsession.

"You had very good conditions after all, that kind of information doesn't come cheap or fast, only a retard would have rejected your offer."

"Karin give her the book." I gave them permission to proceed.

She handed the small book which took me a single night to complete; it surprised even Karin when she first read it.

Tayuya read and check every profile that had been written, her eyes widening in amazement. "Wow, I didn't know that the bastard had this much information on the Akatsuki."

Promptly, she closed the book and stored inside her bag and closed the zipper.

"Weren't you part of his bodyguards?" I wondered.

Tayuya lips twitched along with her eyebrow. "And that makes me entitled to know his secrets?"

I kept my silence.

"Wanna go out for a drink?" She asked out of the blue a very off topic question.

"Why?"

"I want a drink, and the fuckers of this place charge too much." She pointed at one butler holding a tray with alcoholic beverages who only frowned and walked away.

I turned my gaze and met Karin's eyes for a moment.

"I don't mind."

"Great! I know exactly the place." She didn't waste time and sneaked her arm around Karin's shoulder before she pointed the way.

We soon followed her directions and arrived at a rather humble bar which, despite the sun was still up in the sky, already had a crowd in merry drinking and laughter.

Tayuya led us to an empty table and left for a moment on our side before returning with a plate filled with full mugs.

"So where are the cumbuckect and the Big guy?"

"Somewhere inside the city eating to their heart contempt."

Tayuya chugged down an entire chug of beer and wiped clean any remnants from her face with her wristband. "Good to know that they aren't around, so tell me princess how did you kill that bastard?"

I raised an eyebrow, wondering about her curiosity. "Any specific reason?"

She shrugged. "I simply want to know if he suffered or not."

The exact memories were only blurred images inside my mind, but I could recall his screams of sheer disbelief, and his unbelieving eyes refusing to accept his fate. The surge of sadistic glee ran through my veins.

"He did, Orochimaru couldn't believe that I defeated him on his own game."

"Good to hear."

"Tell me, how exactly did you survive the whole mess?" I had the intention to find out the whole story, or at least a very reasonable explanation for a supposedly enemy kunoichi could change teams.

Tayuya crossed her arms, tilted her head to the side. "Didn't I tell you that I changed sides?"

"I know for a fact that is not that simple."

"You are right! It took a couple more of steps before I could become a shinobi of Konoha."

"Which are?"

"Well, the moment the Suna girl arrived I surrendered, but she knocked me out cold so much later I woke up in a cell and was interrogated for days without end."

"And you told everything?"

Her face twisted into a deep frown. "Why wouldn't I? I wouldn't risk my neck for the bastard and Konoha torture methods are at par with Orochimaru, the snake bitch is like him in many ways and the baldy really knows his shit."

I considered her words for a couple of seconds, even if she put up a front then those two would have mentally broken in a matter of time, she was right that it wasn't worth it to suffer for somebody who didn't even put you at the level of living being.

But a part was still missing.

I looked at her straight to the eyes without blinking to apply pressure on her. "How did you even got accepted to become part of Konoha corps? The villages wouldn't recruit enemy forces for absolute no reason to begin with."

Tayuya stare didn't falter or showed any sign of weakening. "The shithead vouched for me, I don't know why but he did."

"Why would he vouch for you?" I asked out of curiosity, even if I knew Naruto's character to some degree I couldn't believe that the idiot would be willing to help somebody who had part of his biggest regret which caused him a lot of harm.

She closed her eyes for a moment and released a long sigh. "Dunno, probably thought that I would somehow lead him to you or something else, or the fact that I'm loosely related to him. But I'm thankful that he got me out of that shithole, the food was shit and they made the bed out of stone."

My eyes widened in surprise.

"You are part of his family?"

The only things that could somehow relate her to the Uzumakis was her red hair, even if it was said that only the Uzumakis had that gene.

She grimaced while she rubbed the back of her neck. "Loosely related...look, is hard to explain but there is a lot of science and fucked up experiments here and there that the bastard did on me."

Her vague answer only creates more questions for me but it was enough for me to understand that she didn't wasn't comfortable with the topic as well.

Could she be some sort of bastardized Uzumaki clone?

There was more about her that she was hiding, but I could solve the mystery at a later date.

"So Karin is related to both of you as well?" I asked, rather perplexed.

Tayuya and Karin shared a look for a moment before Tayuya shrugged in dismissal.

"Dunno, may she is maybe she is not but if you are curious, then go and talk with the shithead or the saggy hag." She grabbed another cup and gulped it down in a single shot.

But aside from her drinking habits, I was honestly surprised that she didn't even show respect to Tsunade, unless she only dared to speak like that behind her back.

"Well, that is enough about the good old me, Karin how have you been this whole time?" She patted Karin's back with a wide smile.

Karin shared a smile and adjusted her glasses. "Well, I hope you do not get bored since it isn't as exciting as your adventures."

But before they could continue with their happy reunion, I took a long sip from my mug and left the table heading outside for fresh air, both girls didn't say a thing and continued with their merry drinking and chattering about the life.

The fresh gust of wind hit my nose, compared to the stench of alcohol and cigars from inside the outside was a better environment to take a moment to relax. However, I couldn't allow me to sit down and wait, Suigetsu and Juugo were still somewhere in the town eating to their heart content or just wandering around trying to kill time.

Yet since I didn't have Karin with me I had to ask to the people but to my luck, there were few places where frozen yogurt they could buy, and after getting some directions I began my short search for the rest of my team.

I found them on the second try, Suigetsu was seated on the table while Juugo was on a chair silently watching him eat more yogurt. What truly surprised me was that despite his bad manners, his whole area seemed clean without a mountain of cups piling up.

He quickly explained that he threw the stack of money to the big shot of the place and they had been bringing them yogurt since then so there was no issue with us leaving the establishment.

However, what shocked me a little was that Suigetsu took some of his free time to ask for recommendations where we could spend the night in peace, he led us towards a different district filled with tall buildings until we reached to a particular building which had an eye-catching door design, two butterflies made of wood at each side with a rising sun at the middle.

I made all the arrangements with the receptionist before leaving those two inside our new room, which I could tell how comfy it was with a simple glance. With the task over I headed to the bar jumping over the roofs until I reached the street and jumped off the building so I could calmly look for the place.

By that time the sunset had started and they turned all the lights on in succession.

Just as I was about to push the door to enter, an angry redhead looking at I with eyes ready to punch anything with the slightest of provocation received me. Her gaze locked on me and didn't show hesitation to throw me a crumpled piece of paper to the face, but much to her displeasure I caught it midair and returned it to her in the same manner.

It hit her leg and fell flat on the ground before she stomped twice, burying the paper.

Tayuya had quite the temper, no surprise there.

"Twat, you owe me for the drinks." She spat.

I shrugged, it was my fault that I didn't stay with them to and be the chivalrous type. "Sorry, perhaps next time." I mocked her with my fake condolences, as if I would ever pay her back.

Karin finally joined us with the exception that her face had a slight hint of red in her cheeks. "Where are those two now?"

"I rented an apartment for tonight."

She did a couple of stretches before setting her path towards a place she did not understand where it was; it made itself clear that Karin was tipsy enough to forget the important details.

I rolled my eyes, it would be better to carry her and avoid unnecessary trouble that a tipsy girl might bring.

But a hand on my shoulder stopped me from giving the first step but that became a secondary thing the moment I felt a soft pair of lips reach for my cheek, my eyes widened in surprise.

I turned only to find Tayuya looking at me straight to the eyes. "What's that for?"

She shrugged. "That's for killing Kabuto, I guess."

There was an awkward silence between us, she was looking frantically her surroundings while I was trying to make sense on the situation at hand but all those thoughts died down when she quickly pulled down my collar to mesh our lips which felt like an eternity together until she released my collar.

"And that for killing Orochimaru."

Before I could utter a single word she disappeared from my sight with a smile expressing her brazen attitude, it took my brain seconds to realize what just happened causing my cheeks to heat up from embarrassment; it was supposed to be me the one who make girls blush not the other way around!

* * *

**AN:**

**And the lockdown has been extended!**

**HAHAHAHAHAHA FUCK MY LIFE HAHAHA!**

**But I heard that Germany is now testing a vaccine on people so perhaps this whole ordeal will end by the end of the year.**

**Honestly I had been writing a couple dozen of words per day this whole thing is just draining spiritually it seems, I really miss going outside even if it was just to assist my university lessons and occasionally eat in a cheap restaurant.**

**Anyways I decided to start drawing on a graphic table and to my shock i saw that is not the same than drawing your pencil, I couldn't even draw a circle so decided to practice and probably I will spend weeks learning the techniques and strokes which is good since I will probably will be trapped inside my home for the rest of the year.**


	12. Chapter 12

_**Disclaimer good to go, sir!**_

* * *

We left the town the following day but since Karin had her time drinking more than necessary; we had to wait till noon before leaving the town since she needed to be at her best or at least to a level where all her senses worked.

Finding enemy shinobis for improving and adapting my abilities was still fresh on my mind, with Karin sensory abilities we head out to track every potentially missing-nin that was within the vicinity.

The forest itself was a perfect place to hide, and of course a source for pocket money.

Our first target was an ex shinobi from a minor village, the moment Karin sensed him I rushed at the direction she pointed with the rest following me close. But as expected from a fugitive, he immediately started his futile escape since no matter where he went Karin always knew his direction. I enhanced my legs with chakra and caught up with my target before he could turn to check I already was on him with my hand grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back.

I didn't him time to even react before I brought down my blade on his neck, doing a clean cut of his head before the body could hit the ground.

My team finally caught up with me, Karin immediately pulled out the bingo books while Suigetsu gave me a knowing smile. The adrenaline slowly wore off, before I stretched my arms and back.

I had no need to activate my sharingan which was a pleasant sign of strength, however he was too easy to kill and Karin confirmed his identity as a chunin, I couldn't get overconfident but with the ease I ended his life other chunins will not be a problem, of course I needed to fight a couple more shinobis of the same level to consider it a fact.

Karin pulled out a storage scroll and sealed the corpse, then she wrote the name and stored in her belt.

The hunt was only starting.

We ventured deeper inside the forest until Karin picked multiple another signatures and pointed us the direction; I gave Juugo the role to act as our shock troop on that occasion. Only when Karin was sure that they didn't detect us or were preparing to move, I allowed him to go head on first.

The primal beast unleashed his contained fury against the fugitive group, instantly crushing one of their members when he landed with his abnormally mutant hands. He didn't waste a second before lunging to another member like a tiger and throwing him to the ground.

Then again, with his hands he pushed his thumbs inside the eyes sockets, ignoring all the agonizing screams and opened the head as a watermelon feeding the ground fresh blood and brain bits.

With reasoning lost, he proceeded to beat and destroy the corpse below him.

With a group of five reduced to three, they finally reacted and prepared their own countermeasures, but that was my cue to go.

Wielding the Kiba blades I send a lighting strike at them to begin my own attack, except they couldn't avoid my strike and received the full force of the lighting but that didn't deter me from going forward with the plan.

Weakened by my lighting, the kunoichi couldn't dodge or even block my slash. Receiving the full force on her upper body, she collapsed on the ground bleeding like a fountain gurgling in despair.

The other two tried to get away, but Suigetsu impaled one of them to the ground with his sword.

The last one fell on his knees watching the scene with a face filled with tears and mucus, but he didn't move or said anything.

I slowly walked up to him waiting for any kind of counterattack but he kept staring at the gruesome fate of his teammates, we crushed his spirit so my weapon was no longer necessary and returned them back to their sheath before grabbing a kunai and promptly aimed to his throat.

The kunai landed on its mark, piercing his skin and reaching the other side, yet his body remained in position.

With the fight over I looked at Juugo who was still punching the corpse with his primal rage, it was obvious that he would not calm down with words so I allowed my seal to partially spread.

With the sudden influx of strength, I grabbed Juugo's neck, forcibly separating from the meat-bag and send him crashing to the ground.

He slowly got up to his feet while reverting back, conveniently that was enough for him to calm down and return to his normal calm self, Suigetsu was kind enough to give Juugo a napkin to clean himself.

Only then Karin came down and did the same procedures, the only difference being that the Kunoichi was a jounin B-rank missing-nin while the rest were chunins and genins. They used to be shinobis from Iwa and Ame, the black market might buy them but with lower prices.

Yet that was what the closest I could experience to a fight, the third bastard we randomly tracked was no fight at all, better said it was an outright execution. Karon pointed the direction and my blade sliced his throat.

We kept searching inside the thick forest without losing track of time, in that time every single encounter resulted in an execution as well while others a short chase occurred only to end in a quick but clean beheading.

The fourth day inside the forest Karin sensory abilities picked up another signature, however she was quick to warn us that the target was trying to get away.

I rushed along with Suigetsu leading the charge, yet no sooner did we start he got cut in half and became a puddle of water as the Kubikiribōchō lodged itself in a trunk.

My vision went red thanks to the surprise filling my veins with adrenaline activating my sharingan and only then I noticed the wire traps spread everywhere like a web, I had to stop and check my surroundings with detail. It was the first time in days that the enemy such complex series of traps.

Soon after, Karin and Juugo arrived.

"The entire place is a trap, do not move carelessly.

Suigetsu resurgerd from the puddle and reformed his full body, then checked for any imperfection. "Yeah, being cut in half isn't nice."

He quickly grabbed his necklace and pulled the twin swords, the small weapons glowed and grew in size before changing form.

When the glow died down, it revealed a new form which I associated with a boomerang which Suigetsu didn't wait to throw around. My sharingan followed their trajectory and how perfectly and safely they cut all the wires which opened a path for us to continue the pursuit.

His boomerangs returned to him and shrank in size again before he stored inside a pocket, however his smile of confidence along with his carefree attitude deformed in resentment.

"Where is the bastard?!" Suigetsu yelled at Karin who only pointed the way before he jumped towards a tree as a starting point before rushing towards that direction, not before recovering his favorite sword.

I followed him still with my active sharingan in case there were more funny business around, it took us less than a minute to catch sight of his fleeing figure.

And took us less than ten seconds to catch up to him.

Suigetsu landed right in front of him and without giving him an opportunity to react kicked his stomach, effectively blocking his route for escape and sending him flying back towards the ground.

The poor bastard crashed beneath my feet, coughing and gasping for air.

I unsheathed my dual blades, my feet shifted in position creating the best stance for the oncoming fight.

Soon after I could feel Juugo behind me watching with slight interest while Karin was sitting on a tree watching us at a relatively safe distance, I had to admit that they were quite fast.

The missing nin frantically checked his surroundings before immediately kowtowing in front of me. "I surrender!"

His words ignited my anger, earning a kick on his chin with all the strength I could muster to that limb, my rash action brought the sickening sound of broken bones as his head did a 180° degree turn before collapsing to the ground.

Suigetsu looked at the body and frowned when he looked at me silently asking for an explanation, I couldn't exactly blame him since he had a bone to pick with him but I was boiling on the inside.

"What's the deal with everyone? I barely exchange blows with them and immediately give up or try to run!" The first day felt like progress but then it became stagnant real fast to even consider it a waste of my time and to make matters worse the Chunin exams were closing in, only a week remains.

Karin faked a cough to get my attention."Well, you have been hunting/butchering a lot of missing nins in these parts and the news of Orochimaru death by your hand must have spread everywhere within the Elemental Nations, is next to impossible to not get recognition."

"So it would have been better if I kept my silence?"

Karin hold her chin in thought for a moment. "Perhaps, now all the missing nins would rather avoid you at all costs or plead for mercy if caught, but you can try hiding your identity."

"Playing hide and seek with these idiots is a waste of time." I commented.

Karin pulled out her bingo book and searched for the information before sealing the corpse inside another scroll.

"Let's go after village shinobis then." Suigetsu spoke.

I turned to look at him with a frown. "Didn't I explain that I want to avoid trouble?"

He tilted his head. "You have been pardoned and as far as I know they won't bother you...much... as long as you don't kill them."

That was very poor reasoning.

Karin quickly intervened between us. "Well, the minor villages won't bother you if you beat up their shinobis but from the big five, they might retaliate." She was slightly worried for the consequences, just like me.

But honestly speaking the only shinobis I should encounter would be from Suna, Konoha and maybe from Kumo.

"I can't believe I will have to act like a stupid thug." I pronounced my words with disbelief, yet I was considering the entire thing.

"You wanted to improve, so this seems the best way to do unless you go a village and request duels." Suigetsu again let loose his tongue with idiocy, but I would not bother with insignificant things when bigger things were at stake because he was right, I really wanted to test myself and a couple of jutsus.

"Let's go to a busy bridge." The best place since caravans and merchants used to travel between villages and towns, and they always had escorts with them.

With Karin words still in mind I couldn't be out in the open showing my face, so to hide my identity with disguise was the best option, but I didn't possess Tsunade perfect henge which made me rely on clothes.

Conveniently the missing nins wore many types of masks and equipment to hide their identities from the public, so I gave the task to Karin to search and collect all their equipment for that specific purpose.

And as expected from a meticulous girl like her, she did it in no time and presented me everything in order and categorized, ready for easy picking.

For my new identity I picked the long straw hat, a pair of oversized goggles, a blue handkerchief tied around my mouth and for the finishing touch I grabbed a beige raincoat long enough to cover my entire frame.

Suigetsu suggested that I was missing a long sword like his strapped on my back and while I would look cooler it was counterproductive since the oversized sword would definitely slow me down.

However, we first took a detour and returned towards the black market outpost and cash out all the heads I got. The rewards had variations since some bounties had village preferences like it was the case for Kabuto, even if the money wasn't a problem anymore we couldn't keep traveling with so many bodies on us, it was a waste of space.

The same shady guy greeted us and paid us every bounty with minor issues, he didn't ask a question or bothered of my new looks; that was professionalism.

Only then we headed towards the busy bridge.

The bridge connected the land separated by a river, according to Karin this particular bridge is part of the preferred route for merchants and caravans since they considered it safe and it could save a day in time.

Since I needed to be alone I let my group rest, Suigetsu didn't hesitate to dive into the river and followed the stream to who knows where.

Juugo on the other hand found a new bird and started to communicate with more critters that arrived in succession, soon after our big guy ventured deeper inside the forest.

Karin was the only one who stayed by my side but didn't use the opportunity to get all that close and lovely with me much to my surprise, she merely jumped on the bridge railings and took a seat next to me and hummed a song I never heard before.

"I feel a group coming...Kusa shinobis." She spat venom from her voice before leaving my side and hide somewhere between the trees.

I looked to the right and waited for the spotted group arrival, a group of four to be exact.

One adult and three teenagers following behind all of them dressed identically with baggy clothes and a straw hat slightly different than mine.

The group didn't pay any attention to my presence and kept walking forward but when they were about to reach the other side I stepped in front of them blocking their path.

"Move aside, you are interrupting official business or we will be forced to use force against you." The leader of the group quickly changed his stance and grabbed the hilt of his tanto while the teenager behind him pulled out their kunais glaring daggers at me.

"The rules are simple, you either pay or fight me." I delivered my bold declaration to them.

The leader took offense by my words and pulled out his tanto pointing the sharp edge toward my throat. "A low life won't extort us."

With his indirect confirmation I didn't waste time for idle chats and lunged at him with a fist directed towards his diaphragm, he could only look at me with widened eyes as my fist reached him before I darkened his vision with a follow up uppercut directly landing on his chin with enough force behind that the shockwave sent his hat flying away.

He fell flat on the wooden floor.

I waited for his counterattack but for several awkward seconds nothing happened. "That easy?"

I poked his unconscious body with my foot a couple of times to be assured of his incapacitation.

"Sensei!" The teenagers ran towards the downed jounin and tried to wake him up with no avail.

"You might have a chance if you all go at the same time." I stated and adopted a new stance to face those three.

However, they looked between themselves before giving an audible gulp.

They quickly throw their heads on the floor.

"We admit defeat, so please let us through." One of the genins spoke out for the group,

I accepted theirs pleads not before taking their money and their storage scrolls, yet I found amusing their glares of impotence as they handed me their scrolls and money I didn't know if they had something valuable inside but I wouldn't know until we unsealed them later.

It was convenient that my rain coat had many pouches inside.

I watched the group leave the area dragging their sensei sorry ass, when they were outside of my sight Karin came down from a tree and nudge herself on me like a cat. I didn't comment but Karin still held a lot of resentment towards Kusagakure, I knew her past but she didn't know that I knew.

"That was beyond disappointing for a jounin."

She quickly stood up straight and adjusted her glasses "The quality of shinobi depend of the village, a jounin from a minor village can't compare with one from a major one. Besides, not every jounin is an expert in every branch of combat, the majority prefer to become a specialist in a single area."

I took her words into consideration, perhaps that Kusa shinobi was specialized in another area that wasn't close combat and underestimated me hence why he was easily defeated.

"Go look for those two and set up a camp somewhere relatively safe but close, we might stay here for a couple of days." I gave her a new task which was happily accepted and left toward the forest first.

I looked at the sky and the clouds slowly flow through the skies; it was a bold move to picking up fight with random strangers but with the battle against Kakuzu closing in I had no more time for idle chatter since I couldn't put all my hopes in the Kirin blasting him in a single move.

But the rustling sound of cart wheels interrupted my peace, eyes fixed on the newcomers and easily noticed the shinobis in the group of four, only two were wearing their hitai tae for everyone to see.

"Takigakure?" Another minor village which coincidentally was part of my objective but their affiliation didn't stop me from stepping in front of the group forcing them into a halt, getting all their attention on me.

"Fight me or pay." I demanded.

Both taki shinobis stood up and cracked their knuckles as they closed the distance with each step, their confidence only made me chuckle in amusement, they couldn't be higher than chunin level.

However, the merchant rushed in front of me with a small pouch on his hands and kneeled in front of me, presenting me as a tribute.

"We do not wish problems, please accept this."

His sudden action left me stunned for a moment, but I grabbed the bag and checked the contents, filled to brim with money.

I didn't have a fixed price for free passage so I stored it inside my coat and moved aside, allowing them to leave unscathed.

They quickly got up on their cart and left, but the Taki shinobis glared daggers at me. The frown in their faces and eyes were wishing for us to meet again for a fight.

Me on the other hand sighed in disappointment, even if they were chunins at most I wanted to fight those two because after some deliberation of the events their confidence couldn't come out of nowhere unless I was mistaken, and they were just arrogant idiots.

I returned to my spot and leaned my back on the railing surface before returning my gaze towards the sky wondering how many fights I would have and what moves I should use the next time.

* * *

There were mixed feelings if the last two days had been actually productive, every single shinobi that came through the bridge met defeat by my hand and didn't put much of a fight to even call it one, at least very few paid the toll.

If I used Taijutsu they were knocked out in a couple of moves.

With my controlled ninjutsu they fainted after after failing to put up enough resistance against my own jutsus.

And even Kenjutsu, which Suigetsu criticizes a lot, were no match against my Sharingan.

But most of the shinobis were from the minor villages and Karin's statement became the truth, they were easily knocked out with a single attack that they couldn't block or dodge unlike their counterpart from Major villages, the few Suna shinobis that passed did put up a short fight but my fire was far stronger than their wind, of course I used my sharingan to copy their jutsus and increase my arsenal.

And much to my surprise not a single Konoha shinobi passed through, which was a shame since they would have made the perfect practice target for their renowned fame as the bests of the bests.

As for my team, they enjoyed their free time unlike Karin who diligently practiced the control on her sealing chains, at least she could keep them at a stable form.

It would be great if she could use them freely for our fight against the Akatsuki, the sealing chains would come in handy.

But my train of thought died down when from behind and to be precise, the stream below the bridge, I felt the flow of the water forcefully change with chakra I wasn't a sensor like Karin but such chakra strength couldn't go unnoticed.

I didn't move from my spot and waited to see what could happen next.

The water erupted in a power torrent of water aimed at me.

My adrenaline shot up my excitement and used both swords to block the strike on purpose, the jet stream collided with my defense and the strength behind it forced me to take a step back before I forcefully broke the attack which in consequence dispelled the jutsu, the gravity once again taking control and pulling the water back to the origin.

It was impossible that everything could end there, my eyes quickly scanned my surroundings at every possible direction trying to find the disparity until I felt a strong killing intent coming from above.

Instinctively I looked up to sky and noticed the closing sword reaching to my head, my vision went red at that exact moment and the world around me became slower, with no time to unsheathe and use my weapon I had to parry his strike with my hand braces destroying the direct path of his attack.

Since his entire weight was on the strike, his body shifted to a new direction, but I didn't stop with such simple action because my sharingan instantly recognized the next attack with a smaller weapon aimed for my chest.

I dove my fist to his face, completely breaking his concentration before I exploiting the clear opening and slightly jumped to catch and get a firm grip on his ankle, wasting no time I slammed his body on the floor with all the strength I could muster on a single arm.

The floor was immediately stained with red, but I didn't stop there was no way I could risk him getting up, so I stomped on his neck and head as many times as possible, possibly causing him a severe concussion or a cracked skull.

That alone left me panting for air, but at the same time I was glad it was over; despite I ended the fight in few moves, the fact that he got very close to actually cut me showed the skill of the shinobi.

I looked at the unconscious shinobi yet the red and brown uniform was a dead giveaway however, and the Iwa symbol on his headband was enough proof for his affiliation.

"Why is an Iwa shinobi so deep in the Fire country?" I asked myself, venturing inside enemy territory wasn't a wise move unless it was to gather intel or sabotage, but since those were political moves that didn't involve me I shrugged the question.

With one hand I took a firm grasp on his collar and lifted his body, he was surprisingly lightweight, and reached for a kunai with my free hand.

I held the kunai right above his throat, there were no discernible features on the Iwa-nin to catch my interest so wasting no more time I opened his throat with a swift slash and threw his body off the bridge, letting the river drag his body to who knows where.

Nature would decide what to do with a fresh corpse.

Even if I said that I didn't want to kill village forces, after defeating the Iwa-nin I realized that nobody would question his presence or disappearance for the simple reason that both Konoha and Iwa had an open hostile relationship.

The sun was reaching the horizon in a matter of hours before I could peacefully retreat towards our camp; I had some hope that Karin improved with her control.

The peace and tranquility lasted for an entire hour, the sun barely visible on the horizon.

I was ready to leave my place until I could feel a change, an abrupt change. Carefully I turned my head towards the source of the change, and my action became a regret for doing so.

My blood froze the moment I laid eyes on the incoming shinobi wearing the dreaded black coat with red coats and with a straw hat, my eyes widened out of proportions behind my goggles when I noticed the large bandaged sword strapped on his back.

My vision instantly turned red, as my hands reached for both blades under my coat ready to strike, I couldn't wipe the sweat forming on my brow I felt like any useless movement would end horrible.

But at the same time my mind was wildly trying to make sense to the situation, Kisame wasn't that bold to travel on the busy roads with no precaution unless Itachi accompanied him. And the Akatsuki always worked in pairs, being alone didn't follow the logic of their group.

Yet I remembered Karin's warning, since the death of the six tails they must have a change of plans and strategies along with their increased activities across the elemental nations.

Kisame stopped in front of me and lifted his gaze to meet mine, while flashing his sharp teeth.

"Aren't you going to fight me?" He mocked.

"A stranger asking another stranger for a fight seems odd." I was on the edge, but I kept my voice calm.

Kisame chuckled."That's hypocritical coming from you, the lone fighter who had been fighting and defeating every shinobi indiscriminately in the last couple of days"

My vision was already red as everything became in slow motion.

Kisame reached for Samehada and brought the entire weight on me.

I jumped away from his attack while I pulled out my own weapons, just in time as Kisame didn't let me rest and followed up with a large swing of his massive sword. With no opportunity or time to avoid his swing, I blocked his attack with the Kiba blade.

Our clash made the Kiba blades create sparks for a second before being forcibly pushed away by the shock wave we caused.

I landed on my feet just like Kisame not far away from me, except his expression had a drastic change.

He threw away his hat revealing his unfamiliar expression lusting for our fight to continue, his wicked expression slightly reminded me of Suigetsu's when he wanted to go overboard.

"You are the first to take the initiative." I commented.

"Since when a shark has to wait for his prey?"

Kakuzu and Kisame were in different leagues, I lacked the confidence to face him in a duel and my team was no match for him except for Suigetsu, but even with him I had some doubts.

But trying to flee would mean a death sentence for me.

"Is not time for us to cross swords." I steeled my nerves when I spoke.

His eyes were fixed on the legendary pair, showing the little sentience they had by oozing the power of lighting against him. "I never expected I would find the new user of the Kiba blades in this place, Samehada is itching to eat your lighting chakra."

The bandaged weapon squirmed to affirm his words.

"Neither did I expect I would encounter the bijuu of zero tails but our brief clash made me crave for exotic sushi for tonight's dinner." I replied with my own taunt despite internally screaming to shut up, those weren't my words I knew for sure they just came out from my mouth with no previous thought.

To my dismay Kisame's grin widened as his eyes became slightly red, the grip on the Samehada strengthened while Samehada itself revealed its sharp scales with obvious intention to rip and tear my flesh.

There was no going back, just like that moment with Jiraiya wrath I had to swallow all those insecurities and face my problems head on.

My chakra was immediately channeled towards my hands to connect with the Kiba. soon after lighting enveloped them showing they were for my next move. Kisame on the other hand shifted his stance and brought his sword in front for a more solid defense and silently stared at me with expectation.

I gave the first step then the second followed by the third, each one throwing away my initial insecurities until I was at full speed.

I used my speed to try a stab with the right sword but as I got close; I shifted my aim and used the left hand to slash his stomach but when the sharp end met its mark Kisame body popped like a bubble.

Almost immediately I turned around as I swung my right blade meeting head on Samehada full weight, yet the momentum of my strike was enough to get an advantage in our clash to be able to parry his attack creating an opening for my other sword

But as expected Kisame expertly blocked my attack with his weapon hilt and proceed with his own counter-attack, his hand attempted to pull me closer but I avoided him like a plague while the other hand tried showed his strength by moving Samehada with the aim to shred my body; starting with my legs.

Yet every time his attack missed my body felt emptier and tired, my Sharingan was quick to pick up Samehada happily munching my chakra while being flailed.

I wanted to slap myself for forgetting that unfair advantage; he didn't need to touch me to eat my chakra.

In a fight of attrition it was clear who would win, I needed to change tactics or at least think in a way to stop him from taking away my chakra.

However, from afar a lot of birds flew away from the forest caught our combined attention. Those animals usually remain calm unless something startled them.

Kisame looked at the birds going away and let out a curt laugh before strapping Samehada to his back, leaving me speechless for a moment for his sudden change of attitude.

"I will be waiting for our next encounter." He slowly walked past me without even trying anything against me and reached the other side of the river.

I returned my weapon backs to their sheath, my eyes never leaving his. "Don't die."

Kisame said nothing as he turned around and kept his way, following the road.

My vision only then returned to normal, but I never stopped watching that direction.

Minutes later two groups of shinobis arrived at the scene flashing with pride the Konoha symbol on their headbands and the green flak vest, it was clear why they were here and what caused the commotion from before.

What could assume their leader was, walked up to me. "Have you seen a man wearing a black coat with red clouds?"

I pointed the road.

"He has passed this bridge not long ago." I had no reason to lie or try to start a conflict with them just after getting an official pardon from Tsunade, I just wanted them gone.

"Thank you."

The leader left with his group following closely in hopes to catch the monster known as Kisame Hoshigaki, a death wish.

When the Konoha forces disappeared from my sight I pulled out the Kiba and pointed the sky before doing circles effectively forming a minor storm. The blackened cloud made a thunderous sound to my signal.

Moments later, my team arrived.

"Why did you call us?" Karin asked.

Coincidentally, a consecutive series of explosions went off deeper in the forest.

I pointed to that particular direction where all the Konoha forces were probably dying en masse. "Thanks to those idiots, Konoha soon will flood these parts even if I'm no longer a fugitive I would rather avoid them for the time being."

Another explosion went off.

I turned to look and noticed the massive ball of water, one of Kisame's killing moves.

While it was good that they had already taken action against the Akatsuki, it was simply idiotic to send no-names against any of their members, even if those no-names were at the jounin level.

"We are going to Suna, start packing up."

I had to retract myself, waiting and fighting at the bridge resulted in very productive results.

* * *

**AN: FINALLY! I finally got paid! geez, I waited two fucking months for my check but my happiness had to be shared with others I rushed to finish this relative long chapter for you all. Now I will wait for a sale for Outward and L4d to happen.**

**If we reach 1k followers I will add a compilation of omakes , anyways I will a bit honest here but for some reason I wanted to play again The Chosen Ones custom campaign from WC3, which I left unfinished like 6 years ago I think and holy shit this is one of the best games, is a game inside a game the creator must be proud for such creation. I love the rpg genre why I like Skyrim, KCD and Fallout, and others, if you want to play a complex rpg that rewards exploration I highly recommend you to play this custom campaign but since Blizzard (Fuck them) killed WC3 classic, download the pirated version and patch it to 1.26 pretty easy thing to do actually.**


	13. Chapter 13

It took us around two days to reach Suna but it felt like more days passed thanks to Suigetsu's incessant whining for the entire trip, the dry desert and the burning sun made the life impossible for him who was practically made of water and as the natural order of things he had a moment where he felt like being boiled alive.

Thanks to him we had to spend half our supply of water on him to keep awake, at least his problems disappeared at night and kept his silence until the following sunny day.

Other problem we run into was the fact that we were traveling by foot on a dessert, since we had been using the trees all the time we never bothered with the wildlife, but inside the Wind country we had a couple of encounters with giant scorpions and other oversized respective animals from the local fauna.

I could agree with everyone that the smell of insect blood was disgusting and didn't want to deal with any of that for anymore time and rushed to our destination taking fewer breaks.

Before we entered the village I had to change my disguise because I had beat up Suna shinobis days ago and it would bring us problems if they were to recognize me in the middle of their village. To fit with the scenery, I wrapped a blue sash around my head and mouth to hide my identity and I wore a tattered beige poncho.

Juugo kept his long robe except he added a hoodie to protect his face from the burning sunlight.

Karin wrapped her uniform around her waist leaving her only in her upper underwear but she covered her body with a brown poncho.

Suigetsu didn't change clothes despite whining about the heat.

We had to pass what I could refer like a migration control of sorts, Karin was the one who pulled out an ID card and explained our situation to the guards, I had to admit that she was good in coming up with excuses for my animosity, for the occasion I was a burned wandering shinobi self taught in the art of kenjutsu. But if her excuses failed, then I would have put a genjutsu on them with my sharingan; those eyes were truly the most broken tool in the entire world, even in the initial stages.

The village despite being in the middle of the desert had as much life like others towns, with people walking across the streets and moving to their business while merchants offered their products to any potential customer.

Except the only glaring difference were the foreign shinobis calmly walking in pairs or in groups of three around the village, these shinobis flashing the symbols from minor villages which I had beaten up many times.

All those teams that tried to get past me were trying to reach Suna, it all made sense. Shame they chose the wrong road and ended up losing their belongings.

Our group kept walking across the main street looking for a place to stay, the best one in the village since money wasn't an issue and I was sure that it would have some sort of air conditioning and relative unlimited water.

However, we were getting some attention as we crossed the crowded street from both civilians and shinobis.

I felt the growing need to leave the area but Suigetsu ran away towards a stand before I could say something, from the distance I saw him pilling up cups between his arms.

Karin sighed in annoyance and adjusted her glasses before going to retrieve our team member and probably pay for the bill.

Moments later Suigetsu arrived with a single enormous size cup at hand, drinking from a straw. "I was really thirsty."

But the further we went I slowly realized that the street became desolated as the building of our surroundings were had every door and window closed, the perfect sense of isolation.

When we checked our surroundings, we noticed Suna forces surrounds us from all directions staring us down waiting for a signal to proceed to pounce on us.

That caught me by surprise, there was no way I could have been recognized that easily.

I turned to see Karin for an explanation, who averted her gaze in shame.

"There are just too many moving freely inside the village."

I shook my head, I couldn't blame her for her limitations.

Beside there were more pressing matters at hand like I couldn't see an end to their numbers and how I could get out, unless I had the Mangekyo Sharingan in the meantime I didn't have enough confidence to even try to go against those horrifying odds.

I felt the sand in my feet shift and gather in a single point but I didn't move; I directed my eyes at the gathering point, analyzing the situation as fast as I could. I even had to use my hand to block any kind of movement from Suigetsu who was becoming impatient by the second.

The sand soon erected a small dune that kept growing in size.

Soon after from the sand a person in white and blue robes wearing a long circular hat emerged.

"I never expected I would encounter Naruto's lost friend in my village, however I doubt this will be a heartwarming reunion." Gaara revealed himself staring at us with his cold eyes.

"How did you know?" I asked, the doubt was still eating my mind and racking my brain for an answer.

He extended his hand, and the sand gathered to form an orb before revealing a single iris staring right at us.

"This desert belongs to me, you cannot hide from my sand." He crushed the eye in his hand, and the sand returned where it belongs.

I sighed, even if I wasn't considered a missing nin before other villages wouldn't think the same, and with the kind of world we live in the news of my pardon perhaps didn't reach the Kazekage's ears yet.

However, I would not fight him or any of his shinobis if I could avoid it, at least not inside his village.

"Read this." From my belt I quickly pulled out the message scroll where Tsunade specified everything and threw it to Gaara, who stopped it with his sand and opened the scroll.

I didn't drop my guard even for a second as he kept reading and shifting expressions of surprise and understanding.

"I see." He closed the scroll and slowly made his way in front of me to personally hand me the document as a show of trust.

I received the scroll and stored inside my belt, our surroundings remained the same with too many prying eyes for my liking.

"It would be better if we discussed at your office."

My suggestion earned another look of surprise.

"You have changed Uchiha, you do not match the records and my memories from our last encounter."

"I hear that, but let's go to your office I really don't want to be seen by Konoha, at least not now."

"Everyone return to your positions!"

Gaara's orders were heard and all the Suna shinobis left the area in seconds leaving our group alone with him.

He turned and guided us towards his office, which conveniently wasn't that far, we only had to go through a couple of turns and the Kazekage building was in sight.

The guards bowed in respect as Gaara passed, allowing us to follow him inside.

And the reception had a big tank of water, much to the delight for our swordsman, who didn't hesitate to fill his cup for another drink for this dry environment. We could only keep silent to his antics or we would be forced to hear his incessant whining from hours ago with new company.

When we reached his office Gaara reached for his desk and took a seat and slowly took off his hat revealing a long straight red hair.

My heart skipped a beat.

However, such revelation was too much for Suigetsu to handle making him to spit his drink and point Gaara accusingly.

"The kazekage is a girl?!" Suigetsu blurted out.

The kazekage stared at him with a blank expression, processing the accusation for a second before furrowing his brow. "No, I'm not. I only have overlong hair."

There was a rather lengthy silence between us, becoming a staring contest until Karin got everyone's attention by clearing her throat.

"That's a very beautiful hair." Karin complimented, breaking all the tension that was built moment prior.

"Thank you." Gaara leaned on his chair, getting into a more comfortable position. "So Uchiha, why have you come to my village is not an everyday occurrence the apparition of a rather infamous Uchiha."

"I've come to watch the Chunin exams." I quickly answered him.

His calm face distorted into a frown.

"If you cannot reveal your objectives then I usually wouldn't put pressure but this time will be different." Sand soon filled the room through the walls, but I remained calm, unlike my team who became uneasy. "Why have you come?"

"Relying on threats are we?" I raised an eyebrow, I didn't expect him to be that quick.

Sand kept pouring into the room.

"I won't put my village's safety in jeopardy for you and even if you have been pardoned I will not forget the damage that you have done to my friend."

We stared at each other eyes for a solid second until I took a seat in front of him and took off all of my headgear.

"The Akatsuki will make a move soon, and there is a possibility that Itachi Uchiha might be part of it."

Gaara breath stopped as he stared at me wide eyes, his mouth open in shock trying to mutter a reply but failing to do so.

His shock didn't last long, he leaned closer with head in hands before looking at me with his narrowed eyes.

"I will prepare my village defenses as soon as possible and if it is necessary, I will cancel the Chunin exams."

I was quick to shake my head. "Is better to do not cancel them, if you do so then they will immediately realize their cover is blown and change plans."

The kazekage pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement.

"You are correct but the Akatsuki already extracted the Shukaku from me, so why would they try to do something again in my village unless…" His eyes widened when the realization finally struck him.

"From my apart I stared at him in silence letting him do all the thinking.

His eyebrows scrunched together. "But who? Kumo Jinchuurikis are famous and impossible to not recognize them, Iwa's are secluded inside their territories and there had been no reports or signals from them and Kiri have lost their bijuus leaving...Takigakure."

He pulled a drawer under his desk and search for specific files which brought to his desk and opened them reading each file and document as fast as he could.

When he found what I assumed was the correct one, he slowly closed the file and placed it on his desk before rubbing his temples to relieve his new build up stress.

"I should have noticed sooner." He lamented.

"Now do you believe me?"

Gaara closed his eyes for a second, taking deep breaths. "I do and thank you for giving me this information, I can rest easy now that we had avoided a potential calamity."

"Can we leave now?"

Gaara shook his head. "I need to know more, specially about what are you planning to do."

I released a sigh, I getting annoyed. "I won't cause any trouble to your village if that's what you are worried, and I only know that they will try something against the Jinchuuriki but I doubt they will try something inside your village."

"I will have to inform Konoha."

His words caught my attention for a moment, but I shrugged them in dismissal.

"Do it if you deem necessary but not mention me, I do not want trouble going my way."

"Haven't you been pardoned?" He questioned me.

"You should know being pardoned from crimes differs from personal opinions and other loopholes, and I don't want any of them following me around."

"I won't lie to my friend." Gaara's reply somehow irked my bad side, yet I didn't act on it. But I didn't understand what was truly happening inside my head whenever Naruto was mentioned.

"And you owe me for giving you vital information, you are the Kazekage think what's better your village because I doubt our encounter won't end up in a big fight." It was a fact that the blonde knucklehead would do everything in his power to drag me back to Konoha just to keep his promise with Sakura, it was also a fact that I would fight to keep my freedom.

Gaara said nothing for who knows how long in our staring contest until he sighed in defeat.

"Just this one Uchiha, after this ordeal is over I want you out of my village." He pointed the exit of his office.

Knowing I overstayed my welcome, I got up from my chair, ready to leave through the door.

"You won't even notice I was here." I wrapped my sash around my forehead and mouth once again.

But our redhead interrupted our departure and raised her voice.

"By the way, why the long hair?"

He grabbed part of his hair and passed his fingers through it like an improvised comb, yet his action showed his hair could be compared to silk and the amount of care he put in it. "I heard many times that taking care of overlong hair consumes a lot of time, before I lost the First tail I needed an extra activity to pass the time but I grew fond of my hair after years of taking care of it hence why I still keep it."

Karin didn't hesitate and left my side, to get the first row to speak with the kazekage leaning closer to his face. "What shampoo or oil do you use? Any particular technique? Or number of strokes?" Karin bombarded the kazekage with question after question.

Gaara tilted his head for a second, trying to make sense to the sudden turn of events. "You should leave."

Face palming from the sheer stupidity was understandable, but I couldn't allow Karin keep pestering Gaara any longer and drain any goodwill from him.

I was about to grab Karin and pull her away but Suigetsu was faster except that he didn't have any consideration on her and practically dragged her away from the Kazekage office while she screamed profanities towards our cheeky swordsman who became immune to any kind of verbal abuse.

Ignoring the past events I focused to find a place to pass the couple of days in Suna, luckily the Kazekage building was in the wealthiest district of the village giving us an excellent starting point for our search.

* * *

With Gaara remaining vigilant towards our presence he had been sending operatives to watch us in secret, a thing that was blatantly obvious thanks to Karin who noticed them; her reason was that they were the only shinobis who stayed in a single place and always maintaining the same distance.

We could lose or deal with them, but that would only cause more problems than benefits, but that limited our movements inside the village and what we could do.

I chose an apartment over a hotel for the features they were offering, like a compact training room and personal bathrooms for each room with unlimited hot water included. Suigetsu immediately went for his room and rushed for a long cold shower.

I, on the other hand, went for the training room and checked the place to evaluate how useful would be to increase my strength. However, I was disappointed with the room itself beside the ring for simple sparring sessions the rest of equipment couldn't be considered that helpful to me who had been fighting shinobis as a form of training and the rules strictly forbidden the use of destructive jutsus inside the room. Leaving me with the only option to request Gaara a training ground for me to practice, which in turn would reveal my techniques thing I would rather avoid.

To get rather decent training would be accepting Suigetsu challenge and fight him, that left me again with meditation to properly understand everything that my Sharingan assimilated and copied in the last couple of days.

Karin took notice of that and accompanied me in my session of mediation to further develop her sensory skills, the big slip up from hours before did damage her pride as the best sensor.

Of course I used that time as well to review my 'memories' again, but those memories had a large focus on Naruto and our fight at the Valley of the End. That particular fight was way worse from I could personally remember of what was supposed to be, Naruto had far better control of the Kyuubi's chakra thanks to Jiraiya being there the whole time and train him.

It finally clicked why I was getting flared up whenever Naruto's name popped up, he absolutely destroyed me before I used the second level of the Heaven cursed seal to keep up and even surpass him by a slim margin. As an Uchiha who prided himself in being a prodigy in almost every aspect, a kid like Naruto mopping the floor with my body destroyed that view of myself.

The chidori with I pierced his gut wasn't just to fight his rasengan, but it came from genuine malice, jealousy and frustration.

Our rivalry had deeper roots than expected, better said I didn't know if that train of thought could be classified as rivalry anymore but I needed to fight him and utterly defeat him to restore that part from my pride.

And our last encounter where I practically revealed myself as the ultimate edgy hotshot and made a joke out of him and Kurama didn't satisfy me at all, but until I've dealt with the Akatsuki and Itachi, our fight to restore my Uchiha pride would need to be in low priority on my list.

By the time I was done with my meditation the sun disappeared from the sky and giving the green light for the streets of Suna flourish with more activity than before, I left Karin who was still focused in her mental training and headed to my room.

The very first thing I found after leaving the training room was a very calm but interested Juugo watching the streets below from a large window, basking in the wind.

Suigetsu was nowhere to be seen so I opted to assume he was still in his bathroom relaxing and cooling down.

I left toward my room and crash on my bed, hoping to get a well-deserved rest after a rather interesting week; fighting Kisame and standing face to face with Gaara of the Sand. We would spend the following day discussing and designing a plan for our first big fight against the Akatsuki.

Yet my train of thought was interrupted when the door slowly opened giving full entrance to Karin who didn't even knock to ask for permission.

"What are you doing?" I felt a bit of annoyance, thankfully I was only relaxing any other situation I would've lashed out.

"What I can't share a moment with you now?" She tried to get closer but immediately stopped when I raised my hand and pointed at her feet.

"I don't want sand in my bed."

Her face distorted into a frown. "That's rude Sasuke-kun."

"..."

"Alright I will take a shower." She turned around in direction to the bathroom.

"In my room?" I questioned her choice.

She clicked her tongue and looked away. "Dammit so close."

"Go back to your room." I ordered her because I wanted to sleep earlier than ever, sleeping on makeshift camps and beds didn't sit well with my neck and other muscles.

"Hmpf" Instead she sat on the edge of my bed without intentions of leaving anytime soon.

"What do you really want?" I groaned finally understanding that she had no intentions of leaving.

She turned her head to look at me and give me a sweet smile as she adjusted her hair. "I didn't get the chance to thank you for beating all those shinobis from Kusa."

"Thank me?" I got up from my bed and took a seat on the edge of my edge next to Karin.

"I hate them, watching them suffer under you was euphoric." Her spat venom from her voice, she couldn't make it more obvious than before her hatred towards that village. I didn't know the details of her role besides being used as a chewing toy.

"You would have preferred if I broke an arm or a leg?" I asked her as a form of twisted joke.

But she surprised me when her smile gained a lot of malice and her eyes burned with the flames of hatred. "I would have preferred if you crippled them but that would have been counterproductive but if you have a chance another time, then please do it."

I looked at her straight to the eyes, with no visible expression. "Suigetsu was right, you can be quite cruel."

To add to her twisted personality she only giggled in response.

I felt the need to shift the direction of our conversation, no need to venture in a route I didn't want to discover; at least not yet.

"How is your progress with the sealing chains?" I suddenly asked.

She got a complete turn of personality and changed back to her cheery and excited self.

"Look!" She did a ram seal and soon after the golden chains came out from her back. "I can use them freely now!"

Her golden chains followed her waving and erratic arm movements in synch like a snake.

Compared to the first time when she could barely keep them stable it was an excellent progress, but keeping them stable wasn't enough to be considered useful in the environment where they would be employed.

I extended my arm. "Restrain my hand."

Her chains wrapped around my wrist and pulled down however I put up resistance, my arm didn't budge no matter how much Karin tried. Sweat formed around her forehead her concentration seemed to have a hit as the chains lost power and the binding slowly giving me leverage to break free.

I yanked my arm, and the chain dissipated into nothingness. "The strength is not enough."

I checked my wrist for any kind of after effect but found none, my skin didn't have a single mark from the grip.

Karin crossed both arms, trying to express her dissatisfaction. "Hmpf, I thought it would be enough."

'_Enough for what?'_

I laid on my bed again, my eyes fixed on the gray roof. "You should rest for now, tomorrow might be a rough day."

Karin instead of leaving my room; threw her weight on my bed, laying next to me before sneaking one of her arms around and under my chest.

In simple terms, she snuggled next to me and buried her face on my shoulder. Thankfully she didn't go any further and try to drown me with kisses or I would have kicked her out from my room.

It could be considered as a reward of sort for her excellent progress.

"I told you I didn't want sand on my bed." I tried to complain while using my free hand to carefully remove her grip from my body.

"Hush now..." She placed a finger on my lips and caressed my hair trying to act all motherly with me, that was enough tolerance from my part towards her antics.

I pushed her away and got up from my bed.

"Don't get all cheeky with me." I warned.

However, rather than disappointment she got up and walked up close enough to whisper directly to my ear.

"My door is always open at night."

She flashed a smile before quickly leaving my room and closing the door.

Left behind slightly confused by the sudden turn of events, I went towards my bed my but instead of feeling the soft surface my skin was greeted by a rough and uncomfortable feeling forcing me to leave.

I held my head while I release a tired sigh.

She purposefully filled my bed with sand.

"Clever girl."

* * *

**AN: So somebody brought up if I would write lemons in the future, the short answer is no I won't write lemons. The long answer is while I have no problem in trying I don't want to write them because I feel I would disrupt the flow in some way and I doubt you would like the type of eroticism I prefer to read and even try to imitate but I will write rather heated scenes at most.**

**Still, a lot of mature themes will be touched.**


	14. Chapter 14

It was difficult to lie to oneself, and I decided from the beginning that I would be taking some liberties regarding this aspect.

And it was blatantly obvious Karin's invitation in what would end.

Reason why I had a towel wrapped around my waist and another being used to dry my hair so I could greet the new day with a fresh and cool start.

I was first to take a shower.

Compared to the outside, the apartment was built with such techniques and materials that it can keep a cool temperature without the need of air conditioning or any similar utility.

Also, the storage scrolls were truly useful to carry thing I quantity without worrying about the volume or weight giving me the facility to carry more with me. with the only crippling drawback, that if I lost that scroll, everything inside would be lost as well.

The door leading to the bathroom was thrown open allowing all the steam to escape, revealing Karin with a towel wrapped around her body and other around her hair.

"We could have shared a shower, you know?" She said.

I stared at her for a couple of seconds, my eyes slowly watching the drops of water go down her legs. "I know for a fact that you wouldn't do just that."

She only rolled her eyes and shook her head."Maaybe, but still didn't expect to take my offer so fast."

My gaze returned to her eyes as a frown formed on my face. "You ruined my bed, I want it clean and tidy. " And I was decided that if she dared to pull that off again I would kick her out from her room and sleep in it.

"Should we wake up those two?" She asked.

As if the world was connected the door was slammed open with Suigetsu standing at the entrance looking at us with a smug smile.

"No need, we are already up and hungry."

"FUCKING KNOCK THE DOOR!" He screamed at the top of her lungs.

Me on the other hand felt annoyed by his shameless intrusion of our privacy.

His finger scratched his ear with an eye closed. "Don't yell so loud, anyway, we will be leaving to grab some breakfast around, where is the cash?"

Karin didn't hesitate to throw a stocked wallet to his face, yet he caught it mid air.

"Easy there Karin-chan." His cocky grin only made Karin grow even more frustrated, without thinking it twice she grabbed the lamp from the night table and was ready to throw it at him.

"JUST LEAVE!" She pointed the direction.

Suigetsu grin didn't leave his face as he turned around and left our room without closing the door.

I stood up and made my way to the door and close it before she could slam it closed.

"You are easy rile up."

Karin threw her weight on the bed and dragged both hands across her face. "If he wasn't made out of water, I would snap his neck with my very own hands!"

My mind wandered a bit, usually our situation should develop in me giving her some words of comfort or a massage to calm her down to increase our affecting or something sappy like that but I wasn't that kind of person, my liberties were limited according to my own limitations after all.

When I was done with my pants, I stood up. "Get dressed we will leave as well."

She turned to look at me."Hey, back me up in this!"

I shrugged. "I'm hungry as well." It wasn't a lie, I was hungry.

Then I left her room and headed to the kitchen in hopes to catch up with those two.

Much to my surprise Suigetsu was rather fast and already went to the shop and brought a lot of ingredients, but since he didn't know how to cook he went to pester Karin to cook for him.

I didn't know what happened but I could tell that Karin wasn't finished dressing and snapped, causing her to use her chains to grab Suigetsu and slam him against the wall followed up by a kick to his face that literally made him explode.

I was honestly surprised with her attitude, sometimes she was calm and collected and other time she was hyperactive.

I decided to ignore the situation as long as they didn't cause any destruction to the apartment and focused on cooking the rice and prepare a pot of tea for myself. Juugo also ignored those two and accompanied me to eat.

About an hour later we all were gathered around the table, it was time to discuss my tactics thing that wasn't possible yesterday for various reasons.

"Before we start this meeting, Karin tell me how many do you sense?" It was supposed to be a meeting of four after all.

"Four of them and each one at a different direction, but not close enough to hear anything unless they have a way to do so."

I nodded and pulled out a shuriken and using the sharp edge I made a small cut on my finger before doing all the necessary hand seals and slamming my hand on the floor. "Summoning Jutsu!"

"Karin tell them the locations."

She nodded and proceed to do a couple of hand-sign yet no jutsu or chakra came out, it quickly kicked in my mind that she was talking them with sign language and all four of the snakes nodded before melting and disappearing inside the floor.

"You could have done that yesterday." Suigetsu quickly interjected.

Unimpressed at his sudden remark, I stared at him. "And give the kazekage the perfect excuse to double his watch on us? We will only need privacy for this moment."

I knew that keeping a spy could be beneficial since you would only feed them false and useless information rather than risk another spy who you might not be aware of.

He sat straight with his legs crossed, leaning closer. "What's the plan then?"

"After the fight with Chojuro I understood that my Kirin probably wouldn't be enough to obliterate Kakuzu in a single strike unless I get rid of his lighting heart." I had a theory that his mask might save him from turning into ashes just like the Kiba blades saved Chojuro from the same fate.

Suigetsu tilted his head in confusion. "Lighting heart?"

My brow twitched at hearing that kind of reply making me turn to look at Karin hoping for her explanation. "You didn't fill them in?"

She crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks, looking offended. "Only Juugo heard me while this idiot preferred to snooze off."

I rolled my eyes, typical attitude from this guy. "Anyway, we will engage the Akatsuki in two teams. Suigetsu and Karin will go against Hidan while I will face Kakuzu with Juugo support."

Karin abruptly turned to look at me with shock plastered all over her face.

"Me?!"

"Not close combat but you will use your sealing chains to support Suigetsu as much as possible." I quickly added to calm her down.

Her stance immediately relaxed. "I will do my best."

"That's why you must train as much as possible so you can completely restrain somebody, we will count on your help to finish Hidan as fast as possible."

"Enough with the sappy words, what should I be careful of?" Suigetsu injected himself into the conversation to get more information from his target.

"Hidan uses a three blade scythe which can be thrown and moved around with a chain, but his sadistic immortality is what makes him a dangerous opponent. He can allow himself to be mortally wounded to get an advantage."

He nodded. "Interesting, a kenjutsu user usually worries about defense but having the ability to not worry about defense and only focus on attack can be fatal, like me. So it would be better if I cut off all of his limbs, right?"

"Yes, cut them and take the head with you. I'm trusting your skills that you are so proud of."

He grinned as he pointed his thumb to himself. "You saw it firsthand, it will be a piece of cake."

And while his words held some truth, I only saw more of his sadism at work in that execution but since his body was water, then I wasn't that worried but more like careful of any surprise they could pull off.

"So what about Kakuzu?" Karin asked.

I sighed, it was the time to talk about him with feet on the ground.

"Juugo, you will have to keep him occupied at least until I can take out his lighting heart, he has such vast knowledge and fighting experience that I cannot make a detailed plan to deal with him unlike Hidan and I know that I would only be able to use the Kirin once on him."

"Why do you think so?" She asked, rather confused.

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." As if somebody as powerful and experienced as Kakuzu would allow me to perform the Kirin twice on him.

"Alright, I believe I can take out Hidan relatively fast, what should we do next?" Suigetsu asked for the phase.

My attention returned on him. "Remove the Jinchuuriki from the scene I do not want her to become collateral damage."

He grinned. "I can do that."

I turn to face our redhead. "Karin you will try to restrain Kakuzu or any of his masks but if you can't then leave immediately with Suigetsu."

She fervently nodded, it was clear to all of us that trying to fight would end in death for her or become a liability.

My gaze then landed on the calm but attentive Juugo. "Juugo you will have to go all out on Kakuzu and I will redirect the Kirin as much as possible to prevent you to receive the full force and pull you out from the impact zone."

He tensed for a moment but nodded nevertheless. "I understand."

I did understand his personal turmoil about unleashing his power but at the same time as long as I was around he could be controlled and his strength was under the hopes that he alone could face one or even two of Kakuzu's masks.

But at the end, it was up to me to finish him and destroy his masks and after my encounter with Kisame I felt rather confident to fight him specially with my arsenal of lighting and fire jutsus.

However, Karin interrupted my train of thought when he placed a hand on my shoulder to pull me close enough to whisper to my ear.

"Sasuke-kun, multiple signals."

I frowned for a second before my face softened; it was within my expectations for that reaction to occur eventually, after all it was impossible to knockout shinobi in their own village and left their bodies out in the open.

"That was rather quick, good thing that we are done here." I stood up and headed towards the principal door of our apartment.

I didn't need my eyes to understand or predict what was about to happen, I could hear the footsteps nearing and surprisingly the incoming people were oozing killing intent a rather common mistake in the shinobi world.

Wasting no time, I opened the door before they could have a chance to knock.

"What do you want?"

In front of me stood an olive skinned bald Suna shinobi wearing his forehead protector to cover his mouth and neck, his eyes glaring daggers at me."What have you done?"

"Do what exactly?"

He stood in front of me, making eye contact with me. "Do not play coy with me, we found out our shinobi unconscious."

"And I should care because…?" Even if it was considered rude my remark, baseless accusations wouldn't lead anywhere.

"Start talking Uchiha." He tried to put more pressure with his own Killing intent, yet it was pathetic.

"Why would I do something to your shinobi in the first place?" I too leaned closer allowing my killing intent to be clear as his with the exception that my growing anger was enough for my sharingan activate and let me watch the world in red and notice more chakra signature hiding in the hallway and behind the corners.

I realized they were preparing to attack me and subdue me if I dared to do the first move but by doing so I would break my implicit promise with Gaara about causing trouble inside his village.

However, that was no reason for me to let myself be captured.

"That's enough, I will take it from here "

My eyes shifted towards the newcomer voice but the blonde hair, the long black dress and the large fan was a dead giveaway of who was the newcomer.

"Temari of the sand, I didn't expect you to come since you are supposed to be the proctor of the Chunin exams."

"I'm a jounin of Suna first and foremost." She curtly replied.

"I see, but I must say it was rude to send agents to spy on us when I specifically explained why I do not want trouble coming my way."

Temari stern gaze didn't leave mine for a couple of tense seconds before she closed them and sighed in defeat. "At least we are thankful you only knocked them out with a non-lethal poison."

"I can understand to some degree the Kazekage's worries but I want my privacy intact."

"I will communicate your opinion to the Kazekage."

"Go ahead."

Temari turned around and proceeded to make her way out when I remembered something important.

"Before you leave, when are the exams taking place?" I called her.

"Today at 12:00 pm." She kept her reply short and resumed her walk.

"Oh, we should be going then." I turned to look at my team, and all of them nodded.

I should think a name for my team.

Hollow?

* * *

_**AN: This took waaaaay longer than expected so if you feel there are empty parts or things that might have been explained better then it is because I needed to get this out to continue maybe in a future I will edit it or rewrite and make it better, besdies I kind of returned to a grindy game with the exception that i became i little more invested because a friend is playing and well playing this kind of games with a friend make is more fun specially in these hard times where you are still locked up inside your home. And to make matters worse my phone got fucked somehow and cannot charge battery so with YouTube help and tutorials I kind of made a improvised direct charger but the battery drains really fast.**_

_**Ugh, the worst part is that I can afford a new one but there is nowhere to buy a new phone, everything is still fucking closed.**_

_**Anyways, don't forget to leave your comments and fanv and follow to increase the mmr of this story**_

_**Also because it references better on FF.**_

_**LOL**_


	15. Chapter 15

With the power of money, we bought a couple of tickets at the last minute.

We were rather far from the center, but our seats also possessed some privacy for ourselves so nobody could hear us by chance, combined with the fact that people were rather loud. But it didn't affect us that much from enjoying the show, it could be considered like a cinema to some degree with so many wide screens at the center and smaller ones.

From my memories spectators had the chance to look at the candidates enter the building where the writing exams would take place, at least that was how Konoha did things but in Suna it surprised me that they slightly bend how things would proceed.

"Usually the exams are divided in three parts, but Suna divided it in two rather than three, starting with the survival phase in their desert." Karin was quick to pick up on my mild confusion and gave a brief explanation.

"So we will only be able to watch faces until the whole phase is over, right?" Suigetsu tilted his head to the side with both arms crossed, which only earned him a hard glare from our redhead.

Karin took a deep breath as she adjusted her glasses. "Yes and No, Suna wanted to make it a spectacle to the viewers, so they installed hidden cameras across the designated area so we, the spectators, can watch it in the stadium or other designated areas."

"That's very different from what I remember from the last Chunin Exams." I commented as the memories from years ago resurfaced in my mind and how things played out differently in the whole mess that was the invasion.

"This macabre show generates profit to the village and Suna needs every profit it can get." Karin added a darker money-making scheme.

"Macabre show?" Juugo finally asked his own question after a long while.

Karin was ready to answer him but Suigetsu was faster than her as he brazenly put an arm around Juugo shoulder pulling him closer.

"Is not that much of a bloody show in my opinion, besides some skirmishes and probably animals dismembering and eating the candidates, everything else is pretty tame."

Juugo looked at him with an expression difficult to put into words, like he was perplexed yet blank and confused of what Suigetsu's message was trying to convey before he released him.

Karin on the other hand sighed in exasperation. "Of course you won't find it up to you 'standards', guy who literally bite off his victims' throats, but in these exams things tend to get really messy."

Suigetsu on the other hand looked at nothing as if he was dozing off before stretching his arms. "Anyway, I will go for a drink."

As he left our group, Karin puffed her cheeks as her eyebrows scrunched together.

My attention quickly shifted to the center where all the display screens are and checked each screen as fast as possible looking for Fu and her team. But it didn't take me long enough to find her team, it was unsurprisingly easy to find the only girl with green hair since most of the other candidates have brown and black hair. And her team was in relative peace moving across the plain desert.

"In the fifth panel from the second row, the girl with green hair, that's who we are looking for." I pointed at the screen.

Karin attention shifted and slightly frowned. "If you didn't tell me she is the Jinchuuriki she would have passed as any kunoichi, I couldn't even feel any demonic chakra in Suna making it almost impossible to differentiate her from the rest."

"Almost?"

She closed her eyes and gave a confident smile. "If I can get close to her and sense her hybrid chakra with that, I am sure I will be able to recognize her chakra at any given distance."

While it was a good thing first, we would need to get close to her and the only chance we would have was at the third phase, but there were other things we could do in the meantime.

"Juugo the birds from the dessert can help you?" I immediately asked our wildlife specialist, his terrain reconnaissance would be very useful in moving across the desert if shit hits the fan.

"There are few, but they can offer help to some degree."

"If possible, have them keep close tabs on her team."

"Look at the First screen!" One guy from the crowd exclaimed out loud as he points at the specific screen where all the eyes landed on.

"Oh, I didn't miss the first blood." Suigetsu came just in time to watch along with us what was catching everyone's attention.

The wide screen broadcasted a genin team, a relative junior genin team, probably around my age, from a minor village in the middle of a fight against two giant scorpions.

Except that they already lost it, as only two remained between the scorpion's pincers while the other fled to who knows where.

"They are literally getting dismembered alive by a giant scorpion." I commented as I watched how the animal used its pincers to cut each limb with ease and stuff it inside its mouth.

"Each country has their own vicious animals, but I can say than being dismembered is better than being eaten alive by a snake and slowly digest in its stomach." Karin shuddered at her own words.

"That's quite detailed." Juugo looked at her, surprised.

"Blame Orochimaru summons, they loved to be around others as people screamed inside their bellies for whatever twisted reason."

"What a twisted sense of humor." Suigetsu spoke out.

She sharply turned and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "YOU are the least indicated to say that."

"Don't make a scene both of you. " And while she was right to point out his hypocrisy, she shouldn't do it in front of such crowd and be loud about it.

Our attention returned to the screens just in time to watch how the scorpion brought the head of a poor bastard closer to the mouth as he desperately struggled in vain hope, since there was no better angle we had no chance to watch the genin dying face.

The crowd cheered as the scorpion close its mouth around the head, splashing blood everywhere, even staining the lens of the camera.

That last scene would fit so perfectly in a 3D movie.

Also, it was enough for me, I didn't want to sit down and watch a gorefest for the rest of the day like a mindless idiot and stuffing my mouth with overpriced snacks and drinks.

After the crowd cheering died down, I stood up from my seat and made way to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Karin asked.

"I will ask for a permission, and probably a map, to wander Suna outskirts." I answered honestly.

"Why?" Suigetsu asked rather annoyed.

I sighed. "We won't waste an entire week just watching a spectacle and lazing off."

He looked at me with scrunched eyebrows before shrugging and shifting his body with legs stretched for a more comfortable position to watch the show. "As long as I have lots of water I might not complain."

With that said I left them behind as I made my way to the exit and only after I was outside I jumped towards the nearest roof and made haste towards Gaara's office or that was the plan until a couple of Suna shinobi jumped in front of me and demanded me to get down and walk on the road like the rest since only them could move freely inside the village.

With the main show taking place very few were outside and moving across the streets, even the merchants that used to be yesterday weren't in their spots; assuming they moved closer to the stadium to increase profits.

Once I arrived I went directly to his secretary and she said nothing, she simply stood up and opened the door for me.

Inside, she closed it, and Gaara looked up and frowned when he saw me.

"Why have you come this time, Uchiha? I might have tolerated today's transgression, but let me warn you that there is no second time."

His words irked me, but I had to keep my cool. "Then do not spy on me, but that's not why I'm here."

"Then? Speak."

"I need your permission to explore Suna surroundings and a map."

A long silence followed as we started a staring contest between the two for several seconds before he was the first to break away.

"Why should I give you a permission to move as you please?"

"Because I can easily recognize patterns of the Akatsuki which your village forces cannot recognize."

Gaara's eyes widened for a second before he opened a drawer under him and pulled out a piece of paper and placed on his desk.

From my place I could read a couple of words from the document, but those words were enough to find out that he pulled out a permission and only his signature was missing.

However, instead of giving his signature, he slowly placed his pen on his desk right next to the paper and looked at me.

"Before I sign this, first you must share this knowledge with us." He was rather quick to make his demands clear in exchange for what I exactly needed.

He placed such an annoyance in front of me but I wasn't one to budge that easily, if that wasn't true then I would have surrendered when he threatened my entire team to bury us with his sand.

I walked closer and placed both hands to support my upper on his desk, not breaking eye contact with him. "If everyone knows a secret, then is no longer a secret."

My words caused his face to contort into a frown. "So you won't."

I quickly retreat from his desk to take a seat on his chairs and leaning my back for some rest.

"If I find anything out of the ordinary, I will have the decency to directly inform you." I quickly added to significantly defuse the growing tension between us.

Gaara closed his eyes as he took a deep breath and released a long sigh before grabbing his pen.

"That's the least I expect you to do." He quickly signed the document before handing it to me.

"I appreciate your cooperation." I placed it around my belt and made my way out from his office and then his building.

Once outside I was a bit unlucky to go right at the moment when the wind blew with enough strength that lifted the sand from the ground and went directly to my face and invade my eyes. I didn't make a scene, but it was beyond troublesome to deal with the sand blinding my vision for a couple seconds while dealing with the burning pain making my eyes water to somehow numb the itch.

I really hated the desert and Suna.

After recovering I shifted my direction towards the stadium and jumped over a roof to shorten the distance and save time, thanks to that permission if any shinobi were to give me trouble I would only need to show it for them to buzz off just like Tsunade's letter.

But no such occasion passed saving me time and reach the stadium relatively quick, but since it was the stadium a place where many people were gathered I had to follow the rules and enter through the principal entrance before I could go looking for my team in that sea of people.

But again it was quick to spot Juugo's orange hair since he was taller than the average person and they had seats really high.

When I arrived Karin turned to look at me with surprised. "That was quick."

"Come with me, you two can stay but always check the sky."

Suigetsu smiled as he moved his legs and rested them on Karin's seat. "Sure, in the meantime I will watch the show from here."

Juugo on the other hand nodded and shifted his attetion to the screens to watch the show with our swordsman.

Karin said nothing and followed me outside the stadium and to save some time I grabbed her hand and jumped to the nearest roof to led her outside the village, with the burning sun above our heads.

Thankfully, I had a canteen with me, which I occasionally took a sip to keep me refreshed.

"Why did you chose me?" She finally asked as we moved forward. "If we encounter any trouble, I can't guarantee I will be much help like that idiot or Juugo."

I stopped dead in my tracks and slowly looked at her, trying to understand what was going through her head. "You are a powerful sensor, did you forget?"

She looked at me stunned with her mouth hanging open as the realization hit her. "Oh...right. Do you think they will try something now?"

I shook my head in dismissal of the possibility. "I doubt it, it would be counterproductive to strike when so many eyes are on her."

As far as I could remember only Pain dared to directly attack a within the village borders to take a Jinchuuriki since he had the power to do so and Akatsuki were almost out of members.

Even with the different and increased activity, going for a direct attack would draw too much attention on them.

"Even then…that's odd" She sharply turned, looking at the direction of the village.

"What is it?"

She turned and looked at me with concern clear on her face.

"I felt a chakra signature for a moment before it disappeared."

I didn't like the sound of that.

"How can chakra signatures disappear so suddenly?" My knowledge about chakra theory was limited and sensory abilities even less, Karin was the only source for information at the moment and I needed answers.

"Even when somebody dies the chakra slowly dissipates into nothing, so the user must have hidden it there is no other explanation."

Her explanation was reasonable, so that gave me enough information to deduce a possibility from the many that wildly formed.

"Either is Jiraiya or Tayuya."

"Oh, right! They can hide their signatures very well." She indirectly brought up the past events and reason why she did her best to improve her sensory abilities.

Also, because she wanted to impress me, impossible to not know her personal intentions.

"But I'm surprised that Konoha had such fast response, or they were close by chance."

"Since they manage the spy network, they must be in constant movement." I assumed the possibility unless his network was way more connected than I expected.

"Should we go check who it is?" She asked and pointed the direction of where she felt the signal.

"We focus on our first objective, we can later see who is the newcomer." I replied as I resumed my path, going even further into the desert, guided by the map. Besides, returning to the village for something relatively trivial would be a waste of time.

However, before I could continue with our patrol, a powerful explosion was set off, strong enough to even shake my footing while Karin fell on the sand.

I immediately turned at the direction and my eyes caught sight of a growing fume from the distance, the only comparison my mind could come up was if a gas station exploded. "That explosion is far from possible for aspiring chunins."

"Could it be Deidara?!" Karin got up in an instant as she shouted her thoughts.

I considered her words, but I had no time to think more deeply into it, I had to go to the danger zone and check it out for myself to be sure and I was sure that Suna's forces would investigate as well.

"Go back and tell those two to be ready."

I looked at the sight of the growing smoke from afar, despite I couldn't be sure if the responsible was Deidara or not, I needed to check the situation.

"What an interesting turn of events."

My vision went red as I took off.


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: This should have come out sooner but I have a good explanation which is at the end of this chapter.**

* * *

Not even a second after I ran towards the explosion site, I felt the sand threatening to enter my eyes again forcing me stop and pull out the goggles I used days ago at the bridge. I do not understand how Suna shinobis could move freely within the desert with ease without worrying being blinded by sand every step.

The only reason for not wearing them earlier was because they left marks on my face and with Suna's burning sun the marks would be worse yet I was so fed up with the whole environment that I was decided to bear those annoyances over sand in my eyes.

With the minor issue over I continued my path until I finally reached the danger zone, my eyes immediately catching many chakra signatures in my surroundings and the smoking crater along with three Suna's shinobis examining the crater.

The situation showed to be under control, at least I believe it was under control giving me ground to relax while all my emotions cooled down, my vision returned to the natural colors of the world.

It didn't look that they have noticed me or perhaps they did but since I tried nothing funny, they were waiting for the leader to give further instructions, either way I walked up to the leader who was focused on the issue.

I knew that guy was leader of the whole thing only by looking at his attire and gear; it was more flashy than any the rest, like medals and weapons that looked more expensive than their common mass produced counterpart.

Besides, he had a like a red bandana wrapped around his right arm.

"What's the situation?" I asked, maintaining a safe distance.

He sharply turned as his face contorted into a deep frown with a hand around going behind his back, probably to hold his weapon. "Who in the hell are you?"

The rest of his squad did the same and looked at me with misguided hostility.

Perhaps it was idiotic to just walk up to them and talk without even make my presence known, but I had no time for stupid stuff and I didn't want to rack my brains to come up with peaceful and diplomatic solutions, I wasn't the Dobe by a long fucking chance.

I hand went inside my coat and pulled my permission before throwing it at him. "Somebody with enough authority to ask the questions, unlike you."

My reply didn't sit well with him or any of his followers but as he read the scroll, his expression slightly softened before he released an exhausted sigh. "I apologize for my rude behavior but this explosion had put us on edge."

He handed me the scroll back, and I stored it in my pocket again.

"Understandable, so what have you gathered?"

"There is no trace from the perpetrator and we didn't find any corpse or clue." His response made me slightly frown,

"So it was just a remote explosion?"

"Is a possibility."

Karin worries were still looming around my head, but there wasn't enough evidence to accept the possibility and scrap my plans.

"Does Iwa have explosion corps?" I asked an additional question.

"A small group, but they do…" His eyes widened for a second before looking at me straight to eye. "What are you insinuating?"

I shook my head to dismiss any worry in him. "Nothing, just thinking of other possibilities besides the Mad Bomber."

We consider villages attacking other villages an act of war after all.

There was a deep silence between us as he stared at me for a couple of awkward seconds.

"Do you think Akatsuki is behind this?" His reply came as a question, but they surprised me how calm he was after revealing such possibility, he deserves a couple of points for still maintaining a cool attitude.

I pondered for a moment and how Deidara likes to operate, but again I shook my head in dismissal. "Not enough information to conclude that, but we cannot overrule that possibility."

Yet in my honest opinion I wanted to overrule it, Deidara shouldn't be around because it would destroy all my plans for my fight against the Zombie brothers.

But the plan to get and connect with the Jinchuuriki of seven tails remained the same.

"How many teams did Taki send?"

The leader was taken by surprise but was quick to recompose himself. "Only one."

"Do you know their location?"

He shook his head. "No, but I can ask."

"Do it quick, I would rather be safe than lament later." I was mulling over the possibility that Akatsuki would no longer care about stealth and under the radar operations and would have become bold and reckless with their approach.

Fu was in potential danger.

The jounin frowned while crossing his arms. "Why do you want to know about the whereabout of a minor village team?"

It was understandable his doubt of my motives, but I didn't have the time for political games.

"Classified."

My reply only made him sigh and pull out a small walkie talkie and walked away a couple steps away from me for a short while.

He returned with his professional face.

"North west around 21 kilometers from this place."

The accuracy of his statement surprised me since I was expecting just a general direction; nothing more.

"Besides the giant scorpions, what else could I encounter?" My next question came out for the curiosity of the wildlife my team had to fight days ago, I didn't believe that giant scorpions were the main source of problems.

"Desert snakes but not as big as you find in fire country, tiny insects that are highly poisonous but only attack if provoked." He was quick to answer..

I nodded.

"We appreciate your help."

I turned around and headed northwest, leaving him and his squad behind.

When I was sure that nobody was around I pulled out a kunai and slashed my thumb deep enough to draw blood, almost immediately I did all the necessary hand seals and slammed both hands on the soft terrain.

A cloud of covered the entire area around me yet it dissipated as fast as it came, revealing a large brown snake looking at me while realizing KI, I ignored that last part and quickly scanned the features of my summon.

Besides the scales having a shade of brown it had two horns and his scales were looked like rocks imbued on his body, even without touching them I could tell that the scales could shred flesh.

Samehada rough exterior came in mind.

"Why have you summoned me, human?" The deep menacing voice of my summon broke me away from my thoughts.

"Your scales are tough, right?"

The snake summon laughed. "Not even your strongest seals can scratch my scales."

I remembered that the snakes the stronger they are the more arrogant and demanding they become, Manda being the prime example, a very powerful summon who doesn't even show respect to Orochimaru.

Good thing that I have my own cheat to overpass that slight issue.

"That will do." My vision went red as I watched the large summon's slitted eyes morph into a copy of my sharingan.

I smirked in pride at watching the finished result of my quick work, that sense of domination over others came naturally to me as an Uchiha.

I pointed at the sand and my summon lowered his head so I could step on him and give him...the 'honor' to carry me through the desert with my guidance.

And if he was really mad about the whole hypnotization (brainwashing) then I could easily set him free in the Chunin exams to eat to his heart content and forget the issue. Worst case I put the leash on him again and send him back to his clan, Manda might be powerful and all that but he also has no way to defeat my sharingan control so he can't do really do that much if he becomes enraged at my actions-

Worst case, they erase my name from the summoners list.

"Now take me through the desert."

I could have used my sharingan, but it was almost impossible for me to keep it up, the first time happened because the adrenaline in my system shot up after the initial explosion but then it died down forcing me to occasionally use it for brief periods to check my surroundings from any possible mines yet and avoid high concentrations.

That was how we had been traveling through Suna desert until my sharingan caught a very large and amorpha chakra signature.

What was ahead differed from the last area, way too different from what we were passing by.

I immediately commanded him to stop.

I relaxed for a second before activating my sharingan to fully analyse what was ahead.

"This is a fucking minefield."

My comment came when I realized the amount of signatures I could see and that it had no and beyond my range of sight and how tightly packed they were, before it was easy to maneuver through the mines but if I dared to proceed deeper, than I would set off a chain reaction that would put the snake boasts to test, thing that I didn't want not because I cared for his safety but the explosion and shock-wave would reach me.

It was an inefficient layout for mines and only a madman would set them up like that, totally fitting for that fucking blondie, even if I were to detonate them from a safe distance the damage would be disastrous that would even cause panic.

I knew that my lighting could render his clay useless but it would be a total waste of time and my chakra to create a path for myself and trying to go around it would send me within the chunin exams area or do unnecessary curves.

But before I could come up with conclusion, I pointed one of the mines and channeled my chakra before releasing it as lighting, my action reminded me of that galactic emperor with his lighting hands.

"Let's see."

The spot where I could see chakra was no longer radiating any form of power, only a small smoke trail of charred sand.

Since I didn't have sand control like Gaara, I had to jump off my snake and reach the ground before I pulled out a kunai and dug in that spot until my multi tool met with something different and harder than sand, as I pulled a white object came out and fractured in several pieces.

I brought it closer but before it could get close enough a terrible stench of burned clay invaded my nostrils, forcing me to look the other way to breathe fresh air for a couple of seconds before returning my focus on the thing that I had digged.

With the first task done, I put my kunai back to its place

At a closer inspection I could see some work of sculpting in the charred clay, while to many that wouldn't be enough for me it was more than enough to conclude my own investigation, at least to a point.

"This is definitely from Deidara."

Because only he sculpted his bombs, to properly express his personal take on the artistic world.

I couldn't proceed with the waiting game and face those two anymore, I needed to trace alternative plan and second opinions to improve and discover potential issues, however returning to Suna and talk with my team would be a waste of time.

I was about to unsheathe the Kiba blades to signal the rest of my team to come, but I stopped myself from doing as I remembered that they could trigger the mines by accident.

I regretted not buying a walkie talkie or anything of the sort for long-distance communications, those were the times when I missed the cellphones and other devices that made communications so accessible and fast.

I turned to look at my hypnotized snake and an idea popped up yet as soon as it came I immediately rejected it since a Summon of his size would cause panic and Suna Forces would move to check or engage.

Another idea came to mind more reasonable than the last one, without wasting more time I pulled out a smaller scroll and wrote down everything that needed to be said.

Then I quickly pull out my kunai once again and slashed my thumb before repeating the summoning sequence and slam my hands on the soft ground.

The smoke dissipated quickly but compared to my last summoning it was a lot smaller because what I brought was a smaller snake, the same size when I summoned back at Suna.

I gave it the small scroll.

"Deliver this message to Karin."

The little snake nodded and to my dismay, it opened its mouth wide and swallowed the scroll whole before disappearing with a cloud of smoke.

But it was odd that the snake didn't show any sign of deformity after swallowing the scroll, the stomach should have at least look bloated.

But dismissed those thoughts quickly as my attention turned to my temporary mount who still looked lost.

"Meet them midway, if you encounter any Suna forces do not engage only say that you are under orders of the Kazekage private investigation team."

He followed my orders and left my side.

Being alone in the desert is portrayed a death sentence too many and al a very depressing situation but in my case it was boredom and climate annoyance, I sat down and meditate under the burning sun; it annoyed me that I couldn't do much but at least my clothes helped to lessen the burden of the sun rays along with my canteen of water.

Alone with my thoughts the possibility of fighting Deidara only kept growing but mostly how could I stop him from blowing himself up because I doubt he would give me a speech of his Uchiha hatred before setting of the fuse, but more likely he would hide or do it in the middle of battle if he had no option left.

Yet since my lighting could disable every type of mine, he could make I was relatively safe against him, so perhaps just spamming my lighting jutsus would do fine. However, I couldn't go with such a mediocre idea of a plan to such a dangerous fight.

Honestly, that way of thinking is so unlike Sasuke who would go fight him with no plans and fully believe in his Sharingan power and I really wanted to do just that, kinda like something at the back of my mind nagging me how to proceed.

Anyway, just like that time passed with me in deep meditation, I was really grateful of the storage scrolls existence since I had a straw hat inside which helped to mitigate the sun impact on me.

"Sasuke-kun!"

Just in time I heard a very recognizable voice, my gaze turned to the direction it came from and saw my summon rapidly advancing towards me with Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo in his head.

I stood up and dusted off the sand from my clothes before stretching my limbs a bit, just when I was finished they finally arrived and get off my summon and landed right in front of me. "The explosion was the work of Deidara, but what I do not know is if that all the bombs had been placed recently or were placed when they captured Gaara."

I didn't waste any time to communicate my findings, which earned mixed reactions from shocked to unfazed.

As expected Karn was the one who expressed herself more than the rest while Juugo kept most for himself.

"This might be a problem." Karin spoke with concern in her voice.

Suigetsu turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "Might?"

She only sighed and glared dagger at him. "Alright, this will be a really BIG problem."

He shrugged in reply, which only infuriated her more.

In my case, I ignored their bickering. "If he is here to support Hidan and Kakuzu, then I must get rid of him as soon as possible or we will die."

That caught Suigetsu's full attention, no longer grinning ear to ear. "That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"

I stared at him. "I don't know if you have forgotten but he can make bombs that can go into your bloodstream and kill you instantly. I doubt even you can leave unscathed from that."

He grimaced before turning to our sensor. "Yo Karin-chan don't you sense that guy?"

She brought her hands together and tried to concentrate even more. "I can only sense a lot of weak and medium chakra signatures."

In other words, there were only Genins and Chunnins moving around us, with no sign of the Mad bomber in the vicinity.

But her range was limited, I turned to our animal speaker for his own insight of the situation. "Juugo?"

Juugo leaned his head closer to the bird on his shoulder for a second before he shook his head. "They have seen nothing with your descriptions."

I released a heavy sigh, it was getting more complicated. "This lack of information makes it difficult to come up with a decision."

Another explosion cut our thoughts short as the terrain trembled not because a single powerful explosion but a chain of explosions going off for several agonizing seconds until no more we could hear or see.

"They triggered a mine." I held my forehead while releasing a long sigh.

"You didn't warn them?!" Karin exclaimed, looking at me with sheer disbelief, as if I did something careless.

"I discovered this particular minefield recently, how could I have know that there are more out there?" Honestly speaking the thought didn't cross my mind I didn't expect that the blonde bastard would take the time to do the same set up many times.

"We should go and brief them with the recent discoveries or we might get into trouble." Karin quickly suggested our next move.

And I could only agree if I wanted to keep things relatively peaceful around me. "Are they still in the explosion's area?"

"Yes." She was quick to reply.

I sighed and signaled the snake to lower his head again so we all could get up and move to our new aim. Except I could already predict how would they react and act, and I wouldn't like it.

And Karin couldn't hide how nervous she currently was, since she was also part of the brains, she was racking her brains trying to come up with plans and possibilities to fight or neutralize Deidara, we really needed to sit down and have a long discussion of my plan and get her opinion.

We arrived at the site of the explosion relatively fast.

Suna current local forces already mobilized around us with their guard up while only the same leader stepped up and closed the distance between us.

I tapped my summon with foot and lowered his head to the ground so I could talk with the Jounin face to face, while I could have jumped it was way cooler to do that kind of entrance.

"You again?"

"It seems I was late to warn you."

"You knew?!" He yelled.

That attitude immediately put me in a bad mood but I hold back with a long breath."No, I recently discovered a minefield right before you set one of them off."

My reply caused his eyes to widen as he held his head. "You are saying there could be more? We lost two good men."

"That's the least of your worries, this is definitely the work from Deidara, the mad bomber." I pulled out the charred clay to show as legitimate proof. "However, I cannot tell if this was done recently or when they captured the Kazekage."

He looked at the remnants of the clay figurine, chewing his lip for a moment. "Those are troubling news."

"Indeed, I will report this to the Kazekage and you should report your own findings as well."

He shook his head with crossed arms. "We didn't discover much and my men were killed, however we must keep searching."

I only shrugged. "Suit yourself."

I turned around and walked up to my team, who were already waiting on the ground.

"Sasuke-kun shouldn't we stay and look for more clues?" Karin was the first to speak indirectly confirming that she had been listening.

"It would be detrimental for us to move across a minefield, only Gaara would be capable of cleaning the entire desert effectively." I remembered how Gaara boasted that he owned the desert so he would be a lot of help to search and destroy those pesky mines.

"Then why did you call us? I missed an execution!" Our swordsman groaned his problems.

"Shut up." After chastising him, I turned to our sensor. "Karin, you can search this area with my summon but do not try to go deeper while I'm gone."

"I didn't notice it first, but you put him into your control, right?" She asked, however I said nothing in response. "I think is against the rules to do that, so probably you might be reverse summoned to their sacred land."

That last part caught my attention. "How do you know?"

Karin adjusted her glasses, then rested both hands on her waist. "Did you forget that I WAS Orochimaru's assistant, didn't you?"

I couldn't just pile up problem upon me, specially not now so I turned to Suna direction and left as soon as possible. Besides, I was confident that my sharingan would subdue any of the summoned snakes if they dared to cause me problems.

* * *

As I moved across the villages roofs unhindered, I was quick to reach the Kazekage building, and when I was close enough, I noticed Gaara's office had the window wide open so I took the opportunity to jump and enter his office.

He wasn't surprised, instead he was calmly looking at me. "You have come sooner than expected."

"There is no time for games, Deidara had created an entire minefield with an unknown extension across the desert." I explained.

Gaara expression didn't suffer any change as he stared at me before he slowly removed his hat and placed it on his desk. Soon he stood up from his chair and extended his hand, and sand poured into the room and flew straight to the Kazekage to form into his almost undetectable sand armor.

"Where is he?" He finally spoke with the same blank expression yet his voice carrying deep hatred and venom.

"That's the issue, we have no idea if he planted them just recently or way back when they kidnapped you."

"Then?"

"To continue with my investigation unhindered, I need your help to clean the desert." I explained.

"Let's not waste any more and take me there."

I use the same window to jump off towards the nearest roof and turned to see that he did exactly the same except that before he landed on the same roof the sand finally formed under his feet and stopped his fall.

Honestly speaking, I couldn't help but be in awe of how he could technically fly with his sand.

I wasted no more time and made haste towards the

"It starts from here."

"Kazekage-sama!" The leader arrived and kneeled in front of Gaara with his head low.

"Report."

"We have lost two men and made little progress." He spoke with regret of his failure to deliver.

Gaara closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Send the bodies back to Suna and letters to their families."

"At once!" He shouted and left as soon as possible with some of his squad following him close.

"I will pulverize his limbs when I find him."

I didn't need my sharingan to know that he was serious in torturing Deidara if he ever caught him.

"Is not the time to get sentimental." I quickly reminded his purpose.

"You are correct." He extended his hand open and clenched into a fist, his action got an immediate reaction as the sand gathered on a point creating a massive ball of sand, I could speculate that its size was several times an average person.

My original idea was to use my lighting jutsu to deactivate the mines with Gaara help in pulling them all together but when he extended his other hands my plan soon changed when he clenched into another fist and the massive sand sphere was forcefully shrank.

My vision went red and watched the sphere of sand for any kind of signal, but to my surprise there was none to find, not even in the terrain. It was clear that the Kazekage destroyed all of Deidara's mines in the area without detonating a single one.

"Wow." Karin started in awe

"Yes, holy shit with that strength." Suigetsu was in the same state.

Gaara on the other hand sighed and turned to look at me.

"Where is the next area?"

I had the feeling he is trying to flex on me.

* * *

**AN: Probably I'm one of the lucky ones, if you can call me that, or probably not that would depend from the perspective, I don't really know.**

**Simple words I got Covid, but I'm from that small percentage that are 'immune' or just carriers, thankfully my family is alright, infected but alright because everything has been discovered in very early stages so nothing major will happen, the doctor said that at most they will suffer some annoyance with their bodies.**

**I just don't know when or how did I got infected, is literally impossible to tell despite we all had been following healthy and hygienic protocols.**

**I really hope that I have been carrying this fucking virus just recent and not for weeks if not I probably spread the virus indirectly and is difficult to deal with my emotional consciousness, I might be an asshole at time and with some cynical views about the world but not a bad person, at least is what everybody tells me.**


	17. Chapter 17

It was surprising and at the same time worrisome that it took an hour for Gaara to clean the entire desert from Deidara's clay mines. With that threat gone my summon was no longer necessary so I dispelled the control I had on it and before it could mutter a single word of his anger, I sent him back to his land.

It made me wonder how he managed to do so without being detected or raising any alarm.

But I didn't sit idle, in the time Gaara was working I discussed with Karin with my plan and options how to deal with the new menace. And as expected she didn't waste any time to point out problems and outcomes, or how to improve them.

Also recommend terrible plans, we both had our faults after all.

She pushed her glasses before releasing a long sigh. "The main issue would be if they are working on a three cells team instead of two, not necessarily the three together but one watching from afar and intervene when necessary with a sneak attack that can be fatal."

And considering his hatred for what I'm, it would be way too brutal when given the opportunity.

"With him in the picture we wouldn't be able to move or lower our guard even a second, and since those two are immortal he would be way too reckless in our fight. There is too much to lose if that was the case."

I could picture my fight with Kakuzu and him exploiting the fact that he is immortal or his relative perfect defense or Hidan reckless fighting style to kamikaze himself with Deidara's stronger bombs.

"Should we abandon the plan then?" Karin looked at me to the eye waiting for my answer.

I only shook my head.

Abandoning the plan would mean to completely abandon Fu to her fate and allow Akatsuki and the idiot of Obito one step closer to success.

"I must find a better way to deal with the third one."

"Don't you think it is very optimistic to think that you can fight and defeat both?"

"My sharingan won't lose." My glare quickly overpowered her to the point she stepped back.

Yet I quickly realized such mood swings wouldn't do any good to me and my vision returned to normal before rubbing my temples trying to ease some tension. "Besides his strongest defense means nothing against my lighting if we were to fight in open combat."

I grabbed the hilt of my Kiba blades to show her a crucial item for my plan to succeed.

"Yet, you used to have some hesitation to fight Kakuzu alone not long ago."

Karin was quite the perceptive one, I was having doubts about fighting Kakuzu face to face and cooking up plans to dispatch him from afar or in a single strike.

My fight with Kisame really gave an enormous boost in confidence with my strength or it only stroked my Uchiha arrogance and unconsciously started to think like one.

"Don't ask many questions." I need not add more issues on top of the others again. "And plans never survive first contact with the enemy."

Karin was silent for a moment, looking around before she adjusted her glasses. "I know, but I think we should ask the Kazekage help on this one."

"Now that you mention it he has shown a lot of interest in finding Deidara." I took her words into consideration, and in fact that was a very good idea to deal with our current issue.

"I think it is a matter of pride." She was quick to speculate.

But, I was quick to dismiss as well. "His reason doesn't matter as long as he can keep that madman off my back."

"You should ask him, he had been sitting there for a while now." She pointed with her hand at the direction where I turned to see the Kazekage peacefully meditating while the sand slowly moved around him.

I slowly walked up to him but before I could speak he turned to look at me. "What do you need Uchiha?"

I stopped right on my tracks."Your assistance to get rid of Deidara."

He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. "I had been looking for him for a while now and found no traces of him in my desert."

Those weren't good news. "What if he is using his giant clay bird to move around?"

He closed his eyes again, pondering the idea for a short while. "That is a possibility, or he isn't here."

"Will you help then?"

"I will kill him when I find him." His words could easily cut any surface and he wouldn't make that death painless, that I was sure of.

"Just look at the sky for any sign of a storm, that's when you know he will be around." I promptly turned around to return with my team, but Gaara seemed to have other ideas as his sand blocked my path.

"You seem to know when they will strike Uchiha." His words made me turn and face him again, he was looking directly at me trying to pierce my soul through my eyes.

Looking to the eyes of an Uchiha was a risky venture.

"Is a rough reference." I quickly replied.

But Gaara didn't seem to accept and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I want to know if you want me to help you."

It was obvious that he wouldn't relent with his demand, despite days ago he accepted my terms to keep everything relatively under secrecy.

But with the new situation at hand I couldn't just be stubborn, I needed his help to keep Deidara off my back so I could solely focus on my fight with Kakuzu.

I kept my silence for long seconds, weighing the cons and pros before I sighed, releasing all the tension that was building up in me.

"After the exams are over, they will wait for the Jinchuuriki to leave your borders to strike, or at least that's how it is supposed to go."

He simply nodded and returned to his meditation. "I will be looking at the sky."

Only then I finally left towards my team who were waiting for my return except when I was getting close Suigetsu closed the distance between us rather than wait.

"Yo Sasuke! Big guy here wants to say something." He pointed at Juugo who had a small brown bird resting on his head.

When I reached him he calmly broke out the news. "Takigakure team has left towards Suna."

As if my body was splashed with a bucket of cold water I was taken aback by the news.

"That was fast." I thought that the whole thing was a survival test, or it was a capture objective?

"They might have a trick under their sleeve." Karin brought up a possibility to think upon.

Perhaps Fu had some ability to communicate with insects which helped her to reach her objective faster? Or maybe the Bijuu inside her had something to do with it?

Questions and more questions without answers.

However, with her back at Suna she was relatively safe and away from the reach of the Zombie brothers and Akatsuki, in other words it wasn't necessary for us to stay outside in the wild.

"Let's go back."

We all headed back to Suna, after experiencing the comfortable bed (with a little extra), would have led into a very uncomfortable night and a lot of sand which I really grew to hate.

Since it was a long day, we all went to a popular restaurant but didn't stay only bought for take over since the tiresome day left us more needy for proper accommodations to rest, besides I wanted to eat on my bed.

However, as I unlocked the door, a very cheeky redhead relaxing on our couch greeted my vision.

"Oh, you brought dinner." She calmly stood up and stretched her limbs.

It was my instinct to make my hand grab the hilt of my blades as fast as possible whenever an unwanted surprise came to me.

"How did you get inside?" I immediately asked because I knew for a fact that the owners of the whole building explicitly declared how good the security was, they even wrote it in the contract, the high level of security the building complex had.

Tayuya only flashed a toothy smile. "I have my ways to bypass rustic security measures."

I frowned, it was clear that Jiraiya taught her more than she let herself know and she had more tricks under her sleeve.

My eyes quickly scanned our surroundings but failed to find anything out of place in the vicinity, my stance relaxed but I couldn't just drop my guard.

"You wouldn't bother us without a reason." After all, our first encounter made it abundantly clear how she didn't act without reason.

She shrugged. "True, I was relatively near Suna after the call for reinforcements and since I was here, I dropped to say hi."

Almost immediately, my face contorted into a deep frown. "How did you even know that we were staying here, better said how did you even know we were here?"

Tayuya looked at me as her lips slowly formed a long knowingly smile."I work in a spy network and for a spymaster, I don't need extremely detailed information to put two and two together to deduce stuff."

That reply didn't sit well with me for many reasons.

If she could know my location with ease then what would stop other spies to also discover my location as well? Yet at the same time Tayuya was a special case since she personally knew my team but for the rest would only matter of time to be as informed and quick to recognize any of us as a team.

Even Jiraiya's spy network's loyalty could be questioned.

The stress was building up once again, so annoying.

The issues would be discussed later because I soon realized that at the moment I had a new source of information.

"Then did this network pick up news of Deidara's location or at least last sight of him." Any bit of information might be useful to resolve such a mess.

Tayuya stopped her taunting attitude while her smile disappeared from her face, she held her chin while looking at the roof for a couple of seconds.

"The last confirmed sight was in the Kazekage's kidnapping, then only rumors that he had been moving around Iwa, is quite surprising that a guy like him can be that good at covering his tracks."

That information was practically useless, but at the same time it was very optimistic to even think that they could get any information on the Akatsuki since Zetsu was the superior spy and counterspy ever in existence, if it wasn't for him and Nagato then others would have found out the base of operations sooner.

I had to rub my temples to ease some tension. "Other Akatsuki members?"

"Kisame killed an entire squad recently, the saggy hag is livid right now."

I literally was there to see them die, that wasn't new to me at all.

"It was a mistake to send no names against him."

"They could have easily beat the shitty attitude out of you."

I raised an eyebrow, there was no need to even look at my teammates to know that they also shared the same sentiment regarding her bold statement.

And her shitty attitude time had run out, the slight amusement from her actions turned into annoyance, a thing I really didn't want to deal with at the moment.

"Anything else you need to tell us before I kick you out of here?"

Her attitude also had a drastic change as she rolled her eyes before handing me a small note with something written on it."Ugh, still an asshole, if you have a chance, drop by at this place because someone wants to speak with you."

"Someone?" I read the address but I did not understand where that place could be and I could tell she wanted me to go to that address alone, something that didn't sit well with me, especially after what she pulled on us in our first encounter.

"Yes, someone." She replied as a matter of fact.

"Alright, now get the fuck out of here." I pointed to the exit while placing the note inside one of my pouches.

She remained in place for a couple of seconds before flipping me off with a cocky grin, honestly speaking more than annoying me, it surprised me and amusing me at the same time.

"Bitch." Suigetsu was quick to provoke as expected and completely ignored that she directed that insult to me specifically.

I didn't hesitate to deliver a chop to his head to effectively shut him up. "Don't start."

He only looked at me annoyed but said nothing more and left while Tayuya did the same and closed the door behind her.

There were more things to discuss with her, but that would be on another opportunity since the day was essentially over.

Going to the table, I grabbed my portion and left towards my room to eat alone and enjoy a quiet moment for myself after an endless day and probably reflect about a couple of things.

Yet that way of thought couldn't be more wrong since every bite I was lost in my thoughts about the green-haired Jinchuuriki success in the first phase of the exams leading me to I asked myself if I should approach her in the following days to learn more or just stay hidden until they left towards their ambush to make my appearance.

Both had their own pros and cons, but the biggest con would reveal my identity, which I still wanted to maintain a secret. And if I were to approach her with such a shady appearance might get an unfavorable if not a hostile reaction.

Suddenly making my appearance to save the day would definitely have the best reaction at the very end if my aim was to create good relations without risking much exposure.

And being lost in my own thoughts, I ended up finishing my entire plate, only realizing by the sound of my chopstick making when it touched the bare plate. Despite having a very tempting smell being lost in my own train of thoughts didn't let me enjoy the full taste and flavor of my dinner, what a shame.

But that little regret didn't last long since I heard a knocking from my door before being opened, revealing a concerned Karin slowly approaching before taking a seat on my bed.

I said nothing as I waited for her to start.

"Will you go to the address that Tayuya gave you?" She finally started with a question, since she was the curious type as well of course sooner or later she would ask me about it.

"No." It was a matter of trust more than anything and a potential kidnapping attempt. Also, I suspected that who might show up there.

"Why?"

I turned to look at Karin to the eye. "Karin, why are you so damn curious or insistent with all these questions today?" Even for a perceptive girl like her, it could be considered a little too many questions for a single day.

"Well...you are just odd? I mean, you have been changing your attitude so quickly." "I'm worried that something is bothering you so much to cause these issues."

She was right, everything was pilling up on me so quickly my attitude was being affected. "You are really perceptive, aren't you?"

She smiled as she puffed out her chest with pride. "I cannot overlook minor details or this party might fall into a hole, you know?"

I opted to overlook her indirect insult to my leadership abilities, the only problem my team faced every day was the constant bickering and fighting between her and Suigetsu.

Obviously I couldn't go and talk about how I hijacked Sasuke's body or I, an Uchiha, was having deep confidence issues regarding other shinobis that weren't Itachi.

I took a deep breath before releasing a long, tired sigh. "I fought Kisame to a standstill even if our fight was brief."

"Very few in the world can claim that." She was correct and theoretically speaking, only Guy can truly defeat him in open combat.

My eyebrows scrunched together. "And on paper he CAN defeat Itachi." Kisame eats chakra to increase his own and his power, and knows his abilities very well. "So that means that I'm strong enough to finally beat that bastard?"

Her face contorted into a frown. "That's a rough question."

"Yet I don't believe but I know that Itachi could fend off and even kill Deidara along with Kakuzu, yet here I'm asking for help and worrying for my safety." Mostly my worries came from Deidara's suicidal tendencies to take me down with him.

"Oh, I think maybe you shouldn't worry over future issues and focus on the present for now?" Karin's face brightened as she came up with her rather naïve solution.

"If it was that easy." I rolled my eyes.

She crossed her arms in frustration. "Ugh I really don't know what to say here, share an inspirational story or words of comfort?"

Somehow I found humor in her words and her attitude attracted me quite a lot.

My hand sneaked around her waist and pulled her down while positioning myself on top of her, causing her face to instantly turn into a shade of red as she looked at me.

We both were hormonal teenager, after all.

* * *

**AN: Time ago I promised that I would put omakes after reaching 1k favs and it soon will reach it by the thing is that I kinda have them but won't post it after reaching the end of the first ARC which will be soon along with an interlude. I hope you enjoy and wish you well in these erratic times.**

**Stay safe out there.**

**Neither of us want to see you go hollow.**


	18. Chapter 18

It would have been almost a peaceful week if it wasn't for the macabre show that was transmitted for the duration of the first phase, Suigetsu was the only one of our team who really enjoyed the spectacle from start to finish.

From my part, I spent those days doing my patrols around Suna with Karin at my side with the rare occasion of Juugo joining us. If it would have been possible Juugo would have stayed at the apartment alone, but since that couldn't just be a possibility for safety reasons he stayed with Suigetsu.

Suigetsu only complained at the end of the show, no more gore-fest for the audience.

To my surprise Suna gave the aspiring chunins a day to rest so they could start the fight at the stadium with full energy, however that surprise died down when I checked the numbers of remaining genins.

Compared to Konoha's exams, the amount of genin dropouts, including the killed, was a lot more. It could explain why Suigetsu was going every day with such enthusiasm, a brutal kill every day could be quite the show.

So I was present at the start of the final stage, watching the arena with mild interest, my team wandered Suna for whatever they wanted to do, I would not force them to do something if it wasn't important and for who was my current company it was for the best.

Tayuya had several tickets stuffed in her bras and shorts watching with earnest interest in the arena waiting for the first match to start.

I never expected her to be that invested in gambling games, however she wasn't a quiet or the average gambler.

She was the vivid one who cheered and shouted loudly when Temari made her presence at the center of the arena and gave the ceremony speech.

After the speech, Temari gave the signal for the first fighters to enter the arena and two genins jumped off the balcony and walked towards their respective sides.

My eyes caught their insignias, one from Kusa and the other from Ame.

However, before I could get more details, Tayuya shouts interrupted my concentration.

As expected, she was more than a hassle than the good company she boasted she could provide, always inviting herself to our apartment and eating our food. The only reason I tolerated her was because Suigetsu was out doing whatever he wanted so those two didn't bicker or fight and Tayuya always spent time with Karin doing whatever they wanted to do.

Somehow her company could be summed up with pros and cons.

My attention shifted towards the fight that had already started, except with a single glance I could tell how mediocre that fight was.

They were too slow, as if they were walking rather than running, and their movement was very predictable. Like the Ame boy did a lot of fancy moves just to deliver a kick while the Kusa-nin never once tried to exploit the openings or parry the oncoming attacks.

Then the realization hit me.

Each village always tries to sell a show, of course they wouldn't start with the best match ups, so it would be quite a while before Fu's match or the other elites.

Unsurprisingly, the Kusa boy was sent flying, crashing on the ground giving a perfect opening for the other to follow up with an attack unless the Ame boy was close enough the Kusa genin threw a fistful of sand; blinding the other genin.

The Kusa genin shot up from the ground and threw an uppercut strong enough under the chin to knock out his opponent, the genin was thrown up before crashing on the ground head first.

Temari walked up to the downed genin and poked him with her feet twice before calling the match.

A collective cry and cheers erupted from the spectators.

Except from Tayuya, who was silently smashing her head on the railing.

"I should have placed my money on the Kusa shinobi." Tayuya groaned her frustrations, her actions reminded me back at Tanzaku gai and how she lost at the casino.

"How much did you bet?" I asked out of curiosity.

"It was 5 on 2 so I put twenty thousands ryo on Amegakure." She replied with deep regrets about her bad choices as she grabbed a ticket and ripped it apart.

I couldn't hold back my amusement at her disgrace.

"And you call yourself a spymaster?" She should have seen that outcome before even putting that considerable sum of money.

She let out a long sigh and turned to look at me. "Never called myself one, just a disciple of one."

I quickly recalled my memories and didn't remember when she claimed to be a spymaster, so she was right but that didn't excuse her for such shitty decision without prior investigation, better said I highly doubt that all those bets she did had any thought put into it and were only made with the high multiplier in mind.

That way of thinking only breeds problems and large amounts of debt.

So I kept my mouth shut and watched the rest of the mediocre fights one after another while Tayuya only sunk deeper into despair as each fight resulted in more money lost and whenever she had her hopes high in winning at least once her illusion was promptly shattered by 'underhanded' tactics like the first match.

Watching her misery was quite the show, the misery of others fed our sadistic glee. Good thing that Suigetsu wasn't around because I was one hundred percent certain that he would have provoked her to the point to start a big brawl inside the stadium.

My attention returned to the arena for the next match which had already started but when I noticed how slow and mediocre was as the last couple of ones my attention shifted towards the spectators and the surroundings trying to detect anything or find a person of interest.

Temari called for the next candidates and two kunoichi jumped off the balcony.

But I only focused on the kunoichi with olive skin and green short hair, her white midriff and white skirt had a strong contrast with her skin.

Compared to Suna kunoichi, who was almost covered from head to toe, only revealing her long black hair tied in a ponytail, Fu was very exotic.

"And now is the turn of the Jinchuuriki." Tayuya commented before stretching her limbs, couldn't blame her, her bad position could lead to some back pains.

"It is the perfect opportunity to assess her combat abilities." I knew very little of her, but I could copy some useful jutsus from her arsenal.

"Yeaaaaah, about that." She motioned me with her hand to get close enough to whisper to my ear. "Is rigged."

The sudden revelation took aback me. "What?"

She shrugged. "Yup, since Gaara discovered her status, he already prepared the perfect countermeasures."

"How do you know this?"

"I delivered his notification of his implications in this fight."

"Why would he rig the game?"

"The house always wins, Uchiha." She brought up a very well known casino phrase. "Also, a Jinchuuriki is far stronger than an average shinobi, you should know that better than anyone."

Her words brought back my fight against Naruto imbued with the Kyuubi chakra, she was correct to state that as a fact.

I pondered her words for a moment when another realization hit me, there were more reasons for the exams than selling a show.

"So as ever the big fives want to retain their prestige, right?"

A classic of the bigger fish bullying the smaller ones.

"Obviously, why would any of the villages allow the smaller ones to come up top?" She pointed at the arena, "Use your brooding eyes if you are curious."

I closed my eyes for a second before revealing the world with a new perspective."Too many puppeteer's strings."

The arena was practically a spider web ready to catch any unfortunate insect.

I scanned the surrounding areas again and noticed all the strings connected led to a small group of puppeteers spread between the spectators waiting for the match to unfold in their favor.

When Temari gave the signal all those strings moved even closer, creating like a dome around the two combatants.

The Suna kunoichi quickly pulled out a whip which skillfully used to take a hold of Fu's left foot and pulled with enough force to throw her off balance, making her completely vulnerable.

My Sharingan quickly noticed the strings lunged at her like vicious snakes and coiled around her body.

Fu was down and the strings made it very difficult for her to stand up, constantly pulling her down and slowing her that wasted her precious seconds, a situation exploited by her opponent who rushed with her whip to become an improvised set of bindings which was promptly used against Fu.

The new bindings did a quick work to immobilize her and the other strings tightened their grip on her body making it impossible for her to move anymore, giving the appearance that the Suna kunoichi perfectly stopped the jinchuuriki.

Temari waited a couple of seconds before calling the match.

The spectators exploded into a round of applause and cheers.

"Well...the Jinchuuriki is now out." Tayuya shrugged.

For such a powerful shinobi like a jinchuuriki such quick defeat was beyond disappointment, if Shibuki did any marketing or advertising with her as the star then her immediate defeat would be a shattering blow to their reputation.

However, those were trivial matters to me and with Fu out of the exams it meant her time in Suna would come to an premature end and soon would leave the village and walk into an ambush.

I turned to Tayuya for answers. "How informed is Konoha?"

"Haven't you seen the amount of Konoha-nins moving around?" Her rhetorical question made me think about it before understanding that I was a bit distracted to take into account their numbers.

"I'm more focused on other things than prancing around the village." Patrolling the desert and looking for any clue or trace of Deidara was taking most of my attention to bother with minor details.

"Say princess, will you actually fight the Akatsuki alone?" She looked at me questingly.

"What makes you ask that?" I frowned, Tayuya had no way of knowing my specific intentions without a snitch.

She only raised an eyebrow while she crossed both arms. "Are you retarded or intentionally forgetting that I'm the one who is delivering the messages?"

That finally explained where she was getting such crucial information.

"Gaara couldn't keep his mouth shut, could he?" I felt the need to go all the way to his desk and give him a piece of my mind, yet my rationale kept me in place and thought of a better approach to a very delicate situation.

What a constant annoyance, fighting my emotions against my rational way of thought.

However, Tayuya was quick to pick up my internal turmoil. "He didn't exactly mention your name but said that he will assist a bounty hunter in the possible fight."

The clarification helped me in cooling down my anger, however her involvement displeased me. "Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong, Tayuya. I forgave you once because Karin pleaded with me to not hurt you."

The redhead couldn't contain her rash attitude and grinned. "No need to get all touchy with me Uchiha, I seal my lips for now."

She placed her index finger above her lips and blew a kiss.

My eyebrows scrunched together, her antics never stopped no matter the situation. "You better be."

I turned around and left her side, with the Jinchuuriki match now over there wasn't any other reason to stay for the last matches.

"Where are you going?"

"To patrol the outskirts." I didn't skip a single day since our arrival and there were no exceptions, however I would not ask Karin or Juugo to accompany me since I wanted some time for myself to think and wander my mind.

"Don't get bit by a snake." She joked.

I ignored her last snide remark and left her side going down the stairs and headed towards the main exit, the crowd never stopped their chorus cheers.

Like I did many days ago I jumped towards the nearest roof and made haste towards the outskirts to begin my pseudo-duty, occasionally a couple of glances were directed at me by Suna shinobi but quickly averted their curiosity as they knew I had permission.

I could barely see the silhouette of the village, which was an enough sign for me to start my patrol.

And as expected from a desert ahead it was a dull landscape with the endless seas of sand around me, I pulled out a pair of goggles to protect my eyes from the pesky sand; the first days were enough for me to learn the lesson.

I didn't have a watch on me, leaving the sun as the only indicator of time.

The sun was midway to reach the horizon and till that moment nothing of interest happened, just like it had been with the other days of patrolling.

Yet that would not last for long, I felt a slight change in the wind.

I stopped in my tracks and took a deep breath before looking back. "Why are you here?"

Where nobody used to be now Tayuya was standing in that place with both arms behind her back. "I lost all of my money after you left."

"You have as much shitty luck than Tsunade."

"No, the saggy hag always loses while I have my good and bad days, is different."

The few times I had seen her gambling always resulted in her loss tho.

"Whatever you say." I opted to don't argue with her since she had a lot of pride in admitting a mistake and moved on, and I needed to do one last round before calling a job well done.

Tayuya became my unexpected partner for the rest of my patrol, except she was silent, which was very odd knowing with the few interactions we had.

But that didn't last long as my ears were...graced by a long soothing melody.

I turned to find Tayuya playing a wooden flute with closed eyes, yet her fingers were perfectly playing the notes of her song.

Any other time I would have silently accepted and even welcomed her abilities to play the flute, but as sure as hell that it wasn't the time, forcing my hand to grab and snatch her instrument. "Do you think is the best time to play music?"

She slowly looked up to my eyes while not showing any sign of expression. "Yes, and you just proved how retarded can you get."

She reached my limit, the emotions ignited my eyes as my vision became red.

With her own instrument, I pointed at her neck and applied pressure. "Keep talking, I dare you."

"Ooooh the Sharingan, scaaaaary." With a single finger, she tauntingly pushed her instrument away.

She was getting more cheeky with me.

But I too was becoming rather emotional to even allow such weak insults to actually push my buttons, perhaps the lack of meditation in the last couple of days was influencing me.

The time I glared daggers at her without saying a word also gave me time to think more clearly.

"Let me guess by playing the flute, you create a sound perimeter that allows you to detect anything within a certain range."

Tayuya raised a single eyebrow. "Congratulations, you are no longer retarded."

I simply returned her flute, which she happily took and rubbed it on her bras for a quick cleaning. "No wonder why Suigetsu, despite his antics, is much better company, he knows when to keep his mouth shut."

She only shrugged at my comment.

"I'm not him." With that said, she closed her eyes and resumed her music, which was no longer soothing but more like alive and joyous.

I could compare it to that background music for an adventure.

My Sharingan analyzed with detail the flow of chakra that she produced and how it spread to all directions, it was a very interesting technique and useful as well except that it paled compared to Karin sensory abilities which could detect anybody from kilometers away and assess their overall strength.

But learning more about the battle instrument would be beneficial in the long run, who knew how many other shinobis were out there, who had the same or even better abilities than the cheeky redhead?

"By the way...use protection." She suddenly spoke just as the music stopped.

Her words made me stop dead in my tracks and slowly turn to look at her with wide eyes. "Excuse me?"

With an unwavering blank expression, she maintained her eye contact with me. "You are lucky that Karin always carries her pills on her, but seriously fucking use protection."

"Do you even think this is a place to say things like that?" I couldn't fathom how she could so casually speak about such matters, it was difficult to maintain my straight face.

"Honestly?" She slowly placed her flute behind her back somewhere, never breaking eye contact with me. "Yeah, this isn't to fuck with you but as a warning."

"What do you mean?"

Her head tilted to the right. "What do you think will happen if you knock her up?"

Her direct question caused my heart to skip a beat while my blood froze me on the spot, yet I maintained my blank face as she patiently waited for me to say something but when she was sure that I wouldn't reply she let out a long sighed.

"Well, we can start with the fact that every single village will send hunting squads, the Uchiha bloodline is the biggest and most addictive drug in the shinobi world after all." She pointed an accusatory finger at me. "And an unending stream of squads will be sent against you to get her."

I could only look at her. "Your point?"

Tayuya's calm face contorted into a deep frown. "I already told you Uchiha, I'm not doing this as a favor to you but because Karin is my friend and I would hate to see her getting hurt."

I turned around and walked away from her, creating a distance between us. "It's a headache to speak with you."

All that new influx of information was overcharging my head, so many things in my head, and I allowed something so small but important to slip up for my conflicted way of thoughts.

She caught up with me and stood in front of me with her shit-eating grin. "You're welcome."

Only then she pulled out again her flute and brought it closer to her lips and the adventurous melody from before resumed.

We spent the rest of the time in complete silence, we didn't utter a single word to each other but she kept playing her flute without stopping.

"No strange sightings." I commented.

Tayuya kicked the sand under her feet. "Not a surprise, the desert a dull place." She turned to look at me with a sweet innocent smile, totally unbecoming from her. "Say, can I go eat dinner with you all?"

"Choke on your food pills." I immediately shot down her idea.

"You perfectly know how shit they taste, so fuck you."

"I won't allow a freeloader munching away my resources." I replied.

The redhead exasperatedly crossed her arms. "And yet you are ridiculously rich to even bother with that amount."

"Not my problem that you blew away your money in gambling." I retorted.

Tayuya's frown softened as a cheeky grin creeped on her face. "Why bother with you? I will just ask Karin for some, anyway."

"I hope you choke on it."

And she flipped me off without bother to face me, in mere seconds her figure disappeared from my vision as a cloud of sand was lifted hiding her movements and direction to where she took off.

It worked well with me since I was done with her company, however unlike her I took my time to return to Suna. All the information she dumped on me needed time to process and understand, especially the part about Karin.

I had to admit that only once that idea crossed my mind but was stupidly ignored as I didn't want to attract bad karma to myself.

My liberties would have bitten me back in the ass if I hadn't been explicitly warned.

Since the exams were essentially over for me I decided to stroll around the village streets and since the sun was touching the horizon, the night life just began with the streets beaming with life.

I was the only one who stood out from the crowd, since I was still with the same attire covering most of my features.

But I only received a couple of curious looks before all of them returned to their own business.

Watching people interact on the streets and show many levels of emotions pulled me back in a trip of nostalgia, when things were different and less complicated.

A personal trip basked with nostalgia, mine and his.

Yet my moment was interrupted when my eyes caught within the endless crowd, sight of a blonde woman carrying a bag between her arms.

Who happened to almost crash against me.

Thankfully, we both stopped just in time and stared at each other with wide eyes.

Despite her long hair covered half of her face, her facial features were distinguishable enough to discern a single person from my memories.

"Ino?"

Her eyes widened in surprise as she took one step back slightly, covering her face with the bag she was carrying. "Ummmm...Do...I know you?"

I was quick to realize my terrible mistake; I was hiding all my features, becoming a total stranger I had no reason to know a girl like her to begin with. "No, my apologies. I must have confused you with another person."

I bowed and moved aside, giving her a free pass.

She gave me a faint smile.

"Oh... no problem... it happens." She hurriedly went her on way, leaving me behind like a statue.

That was definitely Ino Yamanaka, yet that wasn't the Ino I remember or knew in both senses. The original Ino would wear very revealing clothes, not as much as Tayuya, since she was proud of her body but that Ino was wearing lavender saggy clothes leaving almost nothing to the imagination and looked the shy type.

A complete 180° turn of personalities.

I needed answers.


	19. Chapter 19

Only when Ino was completely gone from my range of vision, I jumped towards the nearest roof, creating the starting point for my race towards my apartment.

A quick glance at the streets revealed the minor commotion I caused since many eyes from the crowd were directed at me with curiosity.

I wasted more precious time and left toward my apartment as fast as I could go without damaging the building's roofs to avoid more unnecessary attention.

When I was close to the building, I was glad that they left the window open, giving me a quick entrance.

Passing through the window, I stood inside my apartment where I removed every piece of cloth that was covering my face and throwing it away, not caring where it could land.

My mind was more occupied trying to process my last encounter by racking my brains for answers.

"You look as if you saw your brother." Tayuya was the first to speak.

"Don't start." Karin was quick to stand between us but it didn't matter I would not fall for her provocations.

"Tayuya, what happened to Ino?" I immediately asked as I approached the table.

Her head tilted to the right for a second before leaning to the left. "What do you mean?"

"I met Ino Yamanaka moments ago and is not how I remember her at all, is a completely new person!" I exclaimed.

She brought a finger under her chin as her eyes looked at the roof for an answer. "I don't know , she always had been like this as far as I remember though...oh, I finally got it."

"Got what?"

She stood up from her seat and gave a couple of steps before stopping with her eyes' attention shifting towards the floor as she held her chin with her right hand. "This happened when I was still in prison, so I only know very little, but I think I can somewhat tell you a small explanation..."

"Get to the point!" I slammed my fist on the table as I was in no mood for more stupid games.

She turned around, no longer holding any resemblance to her cheeky attitude. "I think it was years ago. The Yamanaka girl tried a clan jutsu on the Hyuga girl for some stupid reason and it worked... but not as intended."

"Not working as intended?"

With my curiosity piqued I was left wondering for a moment what she meant by that and what jutsu would she even be talking about, I did not understand how many jutsus the Yamanaka besides their Mind Transfer technique and for what uses could they have.

Yet she only shrugged. "I don't know the details but those two switched...minds, I think."

That very simple answer with no details only created even more questions.

"So you're telling me that Hinata is now Ino and Ino is Hinata?" Recalling the brief meeting, Ino was dressed similar to the Hinata I knew and her shy and reserved attitude matched too, but something that simple could have been solved. At least I believe it could be.

"No, you idiot, they are still themselves." Tayuya quickly countered.

"But you said they switched minds." Karin objected.

Tayuya turned and tried to answer, but her mouth hung open for a moment before closing and opening twice, yet no word came out.

Calmly and silent, she returned to her seat before letting out a long sigh. "They switched minds but not that kind of mind, more like the mind that you have for your attitude...holy shit I don't even understand what the fuck I'm saying."

Surprisingly, I understood what exactly she was trying to say. "Enough, are they the only ones who suffered a radical change?"

If they weren't the same, then things would have to take a drastic turn, Tayuya was already a surprise but if my old classmates were radically different, then it would change so many things and my ideas on how to integrate or deal with them would have to be scrapped.

However, Tayuya tilted her head. "Dunno, I only stayed at Konoha like a year before traveling around the elemental nations and whenever I returned I stayed at my place. Occasionally, the shithead dragged me to one of his gatherings."

"Why am I not surprised that you know shit?"

"Fuck you." She spat back.

I simply looked at her in the eye. "Get out of here."

She glared at me for a moment while she stood from her seat and stretched her arms. "I wanted to leave, anyway."

Tayuya turned and went toward the window where I arrived and jumped off, finally leaving my apartment in peace.

There was a momentary silence after her departure, which Karin took advantage of and took a seat closer to me.

"You seemed distressed." She said.

"Only surprised, I never expected to learn that my old classmates would go through such radical changes. It makes me unnecessarily wonder if there are more like them. " A heavy sigh left me, I didn't want to stress over it and plunge myself into a sea of infinite possibilities. "But that's besides the point, we should rest now because the jinchuuriki will depart soon. Did you recognize her chakra signature?"

She mentioned the possibility.

Karin adjusted her glasses as she beamed, a smile filled with pride. "Don't underestimate me. It was easy to get closer to her since she seemed friendly with everyone and constantly went to public places to eat and somehow start a small scale party."

That was good news.

"Can you sense her right now?" I asked further.

She closed her eyes for a moment. "She is in a completely different district than us, the place where most foreign shinobis stay."

I held my chin deep in thought, trying to connect a couple of dots. "Keep a close eye on her. You will give us the signal when to move out."

Karin nodded.

With my order given, I stood up and left the table with a new destination in mind, but I didn't need to go far to find Suigetsu laying on the floor as he read a magazine.

His eyes shifted attention toward me as he threw away the magazine and slowly got up from the floor. "Geez, and I was getting comfy here."

"I'm trusting you you hadn't been slacking off." My suspicion came because I had only been seeing him at the stadium watching the matches or going out to eat and drink.

I had barely seen Suigetsu in the training room.

"You think very little of me, I had been fighting in an underground arena to keep my blade sharp." He grinned with crossed arms as if his actions were to be proud of.

My glare hardened at hearing that bit of information. "Why did you never inform me? Are you aware that a guy seen with a legendary sword of the Mist will be a source of attention?" My hand shot forward and took a hold of his collar, bringing him closer to my face. "Even more because we killed and sold an official swordsman of the Mist?"

Suigetsu's cheeky attitude was gone. His hand grabbed my hand and tried to move mine away from his collar. "Hey, I'm not that stupid. I used their weapons, never mine." His smile returned to his face, but it didn't hold any of his cheeky attitude anymore but more the growing worry about what I could do.

My frown deepened, I felt the need to tighten my grip around his neck and slam his body on the floor and turn him into a puddle. "This is a team to help me with my goals foremost, we aren't your babysitters to clean up your mess."

Yet I only issued a warning with my eyes flaring up for a second.

Suigetsu looked me to the eye for a moment before he let out a sigh of defeat before his body melted, becoming a puddle of water to get away from my grasp. "Yeah yeah do you do and I will do what I will do."

He quickly regained his full form and adjusted his collar and left towards his room.

I patiently watched him leave my sight before I too headed towards my room to rest while Karin stayed behind keeping watch for any movement.

When I closed the door behind me I dropped on my bed for a while, yet my eyes were still fully open and my mind was racing with thoughts.

A peaceful sleep was considered difficult to achieve with so many things going over head.

I was too active to consider sleeping and when I went under the cover of my bed, I only stared blankly at the roof for a long while, leaving with no other option but to meditate to find some inner peace and cleansing of mind.

The ever closing date for the fight was closer than ever and I needed every bit of energy yet for the same reason plaguing my mind I couldn't find any proper sleep and it didn't help that I didn't change my clothes since I couldn't afford to waste time if the Taki team moved in the middle of the night.

The best I could do was to get up and sit with crossed legs and find a much better and comfortable position for my meditation, and if I had any luck, I would soon fall asleep.

In that position, the time flowed as I disconnected from reality.

I didn't know if that time was short-lived or hours passed, but I was sure that a hand touched my shoulder.

Instinctively, I grabbed the offending hand that broke my concentration before opening my eyes, revealing a very surprised redhead.

Even in the darkness, my sight could notice her concern. "Sasuke-kun?"

I quickly released her hand.

With my meditation broken my attention shifted towards Karin who quickly pulled away. "What's the problem?"

"They have already left." She said.

I could feel my heart pounding as it was being pumped with adrenaline at hearing those words. "In the middle of the night?"

People always moved in the middle of the night to hide their departure from others, it was clear that they knew something.

"Strange isn't it?" She quickly handed me my straw hat, goggles and clothes that had been scattered hours ago.

I stood up and grabbed my things to hide my identity. "We don't have time to wonder but act, let's go."

Together we headed towards the kitchen as I hastily covered myself, Karin made a quick stop and knocked Suigetsu's door before resuming her way.

Suigetsu came out from his room, scratching his head. "Man, I was having such a delightful dream."

But after stretching his arms, he quickly caught up with us in the kitchen.

There was no need to inform Juugo, who was already there waiting for us, prepared to leave at any moment's notice.

I only nodded for confirmation.

With our group ready we walked to the nearest windows and jumped off towards the roof of another house, and from that starting point we started our pursuit of the Jinchuuriki.

However, our sudden movement didn't go unnoticed, Karin would let me know. She pointed the several directions and when I glanced at each pointed direction I barely noticed a shadow moving across the roofs. If I activated my sharingan, I would have gotten a better insight, but it wasn't necessary, I had an objective in mind and Gaara wouldn't be so stupid to interfere with it.

We only increased our speed and left the village behind, those who were following us stopped when we reached the village limits and watched us disappear in the distance.

A desert is called the sea of sand for the vast amount of sand and how infinite it looks, besides possessing the same risks if one were to get lost inside it.

Since it was night, the only disadvantage of the dessert was the sand blinding us and sand storms but none of those problems occurred and the secret pursuit proceeded smoothly.

"How close are we?" I asked our sensor.

"We will reach their position in a couple of minutes if we keep up this pace." She quickly answered.

"Have you felt any other signature?"

"Only the Taki team for now...they've stopped." Karin's words brought our group to a sudden halt.

"Get ready." I gave the order waiting for any abnormality to occur, which would signal us the moment to rush towards their position.

"At this distance they won't detect us." Karin added.

I turned to our big guy. "Juugo?"

Despite being midnight, we could still see the environment and discern some features.

He extended his hand and the new bird that had been accompanying him landed on his finger and excitedly chirped. "They had set up a camp without a fireplace."

"At least they weren't ambushed, we can only wait." I sighed in relief as my stance relaxed but I didn't dare to lower my guard, my senses were still in high alert just like Karin who kept trying to find any chakra signature in the vicinity.

Missing sleep was terrible, and I had been feeling the effects for hours, but it was a good thing since my body was demanding rest and my mind would have to give in and don't overwhelm me with more unnecessary thoughts. And since the jinchuuriki team set up a camp, then they would stay for the night, giving me plenty of time to catch up and recover my energy.

I hated sleeping on the sand even if I used sleeping gear, but I could only suck it up and move on, and hope no sand reached my face.

I watched the starry sky for the duration of the time my body could endure before without even noticing everything went dark.

Even with the pressing matters at hand, I could get decent sleep. Even if it was just a couple of hours, it was still enough to feel refreshed. The sun was soon to appear over the horizon to signal the start of a new day.

* * *

But we resumed the pursuit, keeping our distance to avoid detection.

"How long until we reach the border?" I asked.

"At this pace it will take hours."

"Keep an eye open for anything out of place." I turned my attention to what was ahead of me, moving forward without stopping. I had the hopes to reach the border before the sun reached its heat peak.

The dry land slowly but progressively became more green and trees were more commonly sighted until we no longer saw sand or infinite dunes but endless trees, the desert bird left Juugo's side before we crossed to a new biome.

The tall trees created shadows which protected us from the sun just like I wanted.

"Still nothing?" I asked our sensor.

Karin shook her head.

"Then they must wait somewhere around." It was the only explanation for the taki team to not meet their cruel fate yet, since I was leading I raised my hand to stop my team.

It was counterproductive to stop in the middle of a pursuit but we could still track them if they were to get out of Karin's range; I needed time to think of possibilities of why the Akatsuki didn't ambush them yet.

"You are right, we were waiting for you."

My heart skipped a beat when the newcomers made their presence known.

Every single one of us shared the same thought and jumped away with every bit of strength of our legs.

When I landed my attention immediately shifted and checked my surroundings but stopped at what was in front of us and my eyes didn't play any jokes on me as I noticed the dreadful black and red coat.

Better said two of them wearing that color palette who didn't waste a second to take off their straw hats and reveal their identity to us.

As expected Hidan and Kakuzu revealed themselves as the pair tasked with the capture of the seven tails.

"How did you know?" I addressed our uninvited guests.

Hidan let out a curt laugh. "Using falcons to deliver messages? How stupid the Kazekage must be to rely in such method of communication."

I frowned, Tayuya said she was the one handing out the messages Suna and Konoha were sending out to each other, except the very first one.

It was careless of him to send a single message with so much information.

"I must admit you are a very ambitious or idiotic bounty hunter to even think to take on both of us." Kakuzu mocked.

"Your aim is the jinchuuriki, so why are you here?" I ignored his mockery and asked. Dealing with us would exponentially reveal their location and give time to the jinchuuriki to escape.

"You are correct, but we would rather get rid of any annoyance before proceeding with our primary objective." Kakuzu answered my question logically. If they were focused on capturing the seven tails they would lower their guard, which was exactly my plan for attack.

Now that was gone, forcing me to adapt one as my eyes maintained contact with the enemy.

Hidan stepped forward and pointed his scythe to us.

"And your sacrifice would be enough to satisfy Jashin-sama." His scythe was brought closer enough for him to drag his tongue around the sharp edges of his three scythed weapons as he crazily eyed us like lambs ready to gut.

That probably would have scared civilians or low-level genins but for us who had seen so many fucked up things that his thing was more like child's play to us.

But much to everyone's surprise, our sensor stepped forward.

"How could you avoid detection?! Only spymasters like the toad sage can perfectly hide!" Karin exclaimed her disbelief as she pointed at the Akatsuki pair.

Hidan only let out a guttural laugh before looking at us with a sadistic glee shined on his eyes. "Girl, you must have brain damage if you think we wouldn't learn something about how to hide ourselves very well."

My hand shot forward and dragged Karin behind before things were to get ...ugly. "Before we start, where is the coward of Deidara."

My eyes landed on Kakuzu, who crossed his arms as he let out a long raspy chuckle. "Why would I tell you that?"

My eyebrows scrunched into a frown for a moment before my hand went under my coat and pulled out a package as wide as my hand, a package filled with money I prepared beforehand for my expenses and other things.

Never expected that it would be used for something so crazy.

"Because you have your priorities." I threw the fat stack of money towards his direction.

I could see his eyes widen in surprise before his right hand literally shot forward and grabbed the package midair, partially revealing the grotesque nature of his body. The black tendrils retracted just as fast, pulling the hand back to his arm.

Kakuzu's full attention went toward the stack and proceeded to count as fast as he could possibly go.

My group only watched in silence, holding their breath.

Once he finished counting he stored the money under his coat.

His eyes focused on mine. "You are interesting."

Hidan turned to his partner, his sadistic glee gone, replaced by confusion."Oi oi, you aren't serious about accepting his request."

"It won't have any repercussions since they will be dead anyway." He dismissed his partner's protests and his attention shifted toward me again. "That coward is still playing around Kirigakure, don't know why, and I don't care as long as he doesn't stick his stupid face in my business."

I smiled as if an enormous burden was removed from my shoulders.

"Good to know."

I unsheathed only one of the Kiba blades and pointed it to Kakuzu, who only laughed in response while Hidan grabbed his cloak and threw it away before reaching for his necklace to give it a quick kiss to the symbol of his pagan god.

Let the battle be heard and pump my blood to new heights.

Because it was finally time to prove my true worth, not as Sasuke.

But as myself.


End file.
